Hawaii coach Dave Shoji tied the NCAA record for most victories in women’s Division I volleyball Thursday against New Mexico State, collecting his 1,106th.

Tonight he goes for the whole enchilada.

The ninth-ranked Rainbow Wahine (3-1) opened their 25th Hawaiian Airlines Classic with a 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 win over the Aggies (1-3).

A season-low Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,427 watched.

Shoji’s first shot at the record comes tonight against Santa Clara, the team Hawaii swept last December in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Tenth-ranked UCLA — the school Andy Banachowski coached to 1,106 wins — is waiting Saturday. So is Banachowski.

Shoji is waiting for this to be over so he can focus on his team, which was barely aware of the record a week ago.

"Everyone knows the way Dave is, doesn’t want to mention all his achievements," said UH junior Kalei Adolpho. "He doesn’t make that the focus of our team. What’s really cool is he makes it about us and our team, not him and his journey."

But Adolpho knows enough to put it in perspective.

"It’s amazing, a pretty huge accomplishment," she added. "The most wins of any D-I coach. That’s amazing. … He is good at what he does."

Hawaii wasn’t close to looking past its former WAC rival Thursday. The Aggies ended UH’s NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak a few years ago. They remain the last conference team to beat Hawaii in the regular season. The Wahine go into the Big West with a 73-match streak that is the best in the country.

Those numbers pale in comparison to what Shoji could accomplish tonight. New Mexico State and coach Mike Jordan were here for Shoji’s 1,000th win.

"I’ve been part of a lot of Hawaii celebrations," he said with a rueful grin. "Lot of WAC tournament finals … I’ve seen Hawaii celebrate more than my fair share, but I’m very happy for Dave and it’s well-deserved he is where he is. Great program, great tradition. Obviously we want to win, but it’s a neat thing to be able to witness."

With Hawaii gone, the Aggies finished fourth in the WAC last year, but won the tournament to make their sixth NCAA appearance.

That was easier than getting here. They didn’t arrive until early Thursday morning after waiting 19 hours — through two airplane breakdowns — in Phoenix.

Their serving and passing did not travel well. Hawaii had four aces in the opening set and buried three other shanks. NMSU threw in four missed serves.

With all that, it was tied at 9 until the Wahine went on a 10-1 tear. They scored eight straight on Kayla Kawamura’s serve, Emily Hartong contributing two kills and a stuff.

Hartong would finish with a match-high 13 kills, with Nikki Taylor and Adolpho contributing seven apiece and Tai Manu-Olevao getting six.

It was enough balance for NMSU, but barely in the second set.

Hawaii broke away on Mita Uiato’s serve, scoring five in a row to build a 15-9 advantage. The Aggies rallied late, scoring five straight with Aleisha Coates serving to tie it at 22.

Taylor stopped the run with her fifth kill of the set. Manu-Olevao’s fourth and fifth gave UH the set.

The third wasn’t nearly as close, and by the end Shoji had used 15 players, in a variety of familiar and unfamiliar places.

"Probably the best thing is we didn’t have to expend a lot of energy," he said. "We played pretty efficiently. And, to be honest, they’ve got to be dead tired. I think they’re a better team than they showed tonight."

Only Adolpho and Uiato are in the same positions as the last time New Mexico State played Hawaii. Jordan likes the renovation, but will like it more from afar.

"I’m very impressed," he said. "Emily Hartong has great arm speed. We knew that. For her to make the transition to the left and do what she does is very impressive. She’s a different player than Kanani (Danielson), but just as effective. I think they are way more versatile offensively. They are a lot tougher to figure out than they used to be."

In Thursday’s tournament opener, Karsta Lowe put down 19 kills and former Wahine reserve setter Monica Stauber had 18 assists as No. 10 UCLA (4-0) held off Santa Clara (2-2) 25-21, 25-12, 21-25, 27-25.