It’s early. Opening-day-of-the-season early.

Still, it’s never too early to savor a first.

Because it was a big one.

How big? Consider that in the five previous sand volleyball dual meetings, Hawaii hadn’t even taken a point off Pepperdine.

That’s 0–5 times five. That’s 0-forever until Friday.

The No. 4 Rainbow Wahine rallied to win the final two flights against the top-ranked and defending national champion Waves, earning 2-1 victories at Nos. 1 and 4 for a 3-2 victory at Queen’s Beach. It was just the third duals loss in four years for Pepperdine, now 53-3 since the sport’s inaugural season of 2012.

“They’re really tough,” said SandBows sophomore Mikayla Tucker, who teamed with freshman Lara Schreiber at No. 4 to earn the deciding point. “I wanted it so badly.

“We had no idea that it was coming down to our match. We would have probably felt more pressure if we had. It was a beautiful day out here. Even more so now.”

Tucker-Schreiber were well on their way to the win, leading 7-1 in Set 3 when Nikki Taylor’s ace gave her and Brittany Tiegs the 14-21, 21-14, 15-8 victory over Pepperdine’s Kellie Woolever and Kelley Larsen. The Hawaii pair had dominated after losing Set 1, one that the left-handed Woolever controlled with her tough serving and four aces.

The marathon match at No. 1 was a battle featuring four All-Americans. Seniors Woolever and Larsen were 50-5 when playing together the past two seasons, while senior Tiegs and sophomore Taylor had different partners as the SandBows finished tied for third nationally last year.

Both Nos. 1 had three-setters earlier in the day, Tiegs-Taylor surviving against Loyola Marymount’s Betsi Metter-Sarah Sponcil, 15-21, 21-17, 15-12, in the SandBows’ 4-1 win over the Lions. Metter-Sponcil handed Woolever-Larsen what would be the first of two losses on Friday, 21-23, 21-15, 15-10, the only point for the Lions in a 4-1 loss to the Waves in the second match of the triple header.

“I like it when we go to three (sets), you get that extra chance to come on strong at the end and win,” Tiegs said. “We just had to play our game, calm down a little bit. Winning that second game, I think, put pressure on them, made them think about it because they had just lost in three.”

Tiegs’ smart placement shots sealed it in Set 3. Twice she surprised her opponents as well as her partner with a two-handed fist shot on one (first contact) that landed deep behind both Woolever and Larsen.

“No one was expecting that, I wasn’t expecting it,” Taylor said. “Those were great shots, just perfect.”

As for her match-ending ace at 14-8, “I had been serving more in the middle,” Taylor said. “When I went back to serve, my first thought was I’m going to ace them. I saw (Woolever) take a step towards the middle, so it was, ‘I’m serving line (toward the outside of the court).’ ”

“It’s a great feeling to win today,” first-year Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said. “Our girls have been chomping at the bit, ready to go and play someone else.

“We started off a little rocky (against LMU), but we got better throughout the day.” 

Even in defeat, Pepperdine coach Nina Matthies was fairly satisfied. She, too, had mixed up a few pairs, putting returnees with newcomers.

“I liked what I saw for the most part,” Matthies said. “We’ve opened at home (the past three years), so it was good to get this experience. We had a few new pairs, so obviously we’ll keep working. We’re not done yet.”

The Rainbow Wahine Invitational pairs tournament got underway Friday afternoon with pool play. The winners of each of the six pools moved into the gold bracket to determine the overall champion.

Pepperdine had four pairs advance out of the six pools and Hawaii and Loyola Marymount one.

Playing in the gold bracket will be Waves Sophie Asprey-Taylor Racich, Kellie Woolever-Kelley Larsen, Delany Knudsen-Lara Dykstra and Becca Strehlow-Emily Cook

Hawaii’s Olivia Urban and Katie Spieler also won their pool, as did LMU’s Betsi Metter-Sarah Sponcil.

No. 4 Hawaii 4, No. 6 Loyola Marymount 1

No. 1: Brittany Tiegs/Nikki Taylor (UH) def. Betsi Metter/Sarah Sponcil (LMU) 15-21, 21-17, 15-12 

No. 2: Olivia Urban/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Litara Keil/Taylor Akana (LMU) 21-11, 21-14 

No. 3: Sammie Brown/Hannah Rooks (UH) def. Anne Marie Taylor/Avery Bush (LMU) 21-10, 21-16 

No. 4: Rachelle Suaava/Hannah Tedrow (LMU) def. Mikayla Tucker/Lara Schreiber (UH) 21-13, 16-21, 15-13 

No. 5: Hannah Zalopany/Kaiwi Schucht (UH) def. Ashley Maxfeldt/Taylor Scioscia (LMU) 22-20, 21-16

No. 1 Pepperdine 4, Loyola Marymount 1

No. 1: Betsi Metter/Sarah Sponcil (LMU) def. Kellie Woolever/Kelley Larsen (PEPP) 21-23, 21-15, 15-10 

No. 2: Delaney Knudsen/Lara Dykstra (PEPP) def. Litara Keil/Taylor Akana (LMU) 21-14, 21-14 

No. 3: Becca Strehlow/Emily Cook (PEPP) def. Anne Marie Taylor/Avery Bush (LMU) 21-14, 21-10 

No. 4: Sophie Asprey/Taylor Racich (PEPP) def. Rachelle Suaava/Hannah Tedrow (LMU) 21-11, 21-10 

No. 5: Corinne Quiggle/Katie Messing (PEPP) def. Ashley Maxfeldt/Taylor Scioscia (LMU) 21-12, 21-10

No. 4 Hawaii 3, No. 1 Pepperdine 2

No. 1: Brittany Tiegs/Nikki Taylor (UH) def. Kellie Woolever/Kelley Larsen (PEPP) 14-21, 21-14, 15-8 

No. 2: Olivia Urban/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Delaney Knudsen/Lara Dykstra (PEPP) 21-16, 21-16 

No. 3: Becca Strehlow/Emily Cook (PEPP) def. Sammie Brown/Hannah Rooks (UH) 21-19, 21-17 

No. 4: Mikayla Tucker/Lara Schreiber (UH) def.  Sophie Asprey/Taylor Racich (PEPP) 16-21, 21-12, 15-8 

No. 5: Corinne Quiggle/Katie Messing (PEPP) def. Hannah Zalopany/Kaiwi Schucht (UH) 21-18, 21-18

POOL PLAY

Pool 1 

Brittany Tiegs/Nikki Taylor (UH) def. Rachelle Suaava/Hannah Tedrow (LMU) 21-18, 21-18

Sophie Asprey/Taylor Racich (PEPP) def. Rachelle Suaava/Hannah Tedrow (LMU), 21-0, 21-18

Sophie Asprey/Taylor Racich (PEPP) def. Brittany Tiegs/Nikki Taylor (UH) 21-16, 21-19

Pool 2 

Hannah Zalopany/Kaiwi Schucht (UH) def. Ashley Maxfeldt/Taylor Scioscia (LMU) 21-18, 21-11

Kellie Woolever/Kelley Larsen (PEPP) def. Ashley Maxfeldt/Taylor Scioscia (LMU) 21-18, 21-9

Kellie Woolever/Kelley Larsen (PEPP) def. Hannah Zalopany/Kaiwi Schucht (UH) 21-12, 21-10

Pool 3

Betsi Metter/Sarah Sponcil (LMU) def.  Corinne Quiggle/Katie Messing (PEPP) 21-12, 23-21

Corinne Quiggle/Katie Messing (PEPP) def. Mikayla Tucker/Lara Schreiber (UH) 21-19, 21-18

Betsi Metter/Sarah Sponcil (LMU) def. Mikayla Tucker/Lara Schreiber (UH) 21-17, 21-13

Pool 4

Olivia Urban/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Samantha Cash/Leanna Schroeder (PEPP) 21-16, 21-9

Anne Marie Taylor/Avery Bush (LMU) def. Samantha Cash/Leanna Schroeder (PEPP) 21-15, 21-19

Olivia Urban/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Anne Marie Taylor/Avery Bush (LMU) 21-9, 21-15

Pool 5

Delaney Knudsen/Lara Dykstra (PEPP) def. Lindsay Carr/Kristen Castellanos (LMU) 21-15, 21-13

Sammie Brown/Hannah Rooks (UH) def. Lindsay Carr/Kristen Castellanos (LMU) 21-15, 21-18

Delaney Knudsen/Lara Dykstra (PEPP) def. Sammie Brown/Hannah Rooks (UH) 21-17, 21-15

Pool 6

Litara Keil/Taylor Akana (LMU) def. Heather Boyan/London Chow (UH) 24-26, 21-13, 17-15

Becca Strehlow/Emily Cook (PEPP) def. Heather Boyan/London Chow (UH) 23-21, 21-14

Becca Strehlow/Emily Cook (PEPP) def. Litara Keil/Taylor Akana (LMU) 21-19, 18-21, 15-11