A couple of University of Hawaii athletic teams quietly made history last week.

Maybe not unprecedented, but history nonetheless — and a much-needed morale boost for Manoa’s lower campus.

It’s possible baseball and Rainbow Wahine volleyball pulled off this unlikely double sometime back in the 1980s. Or men’s volleyball and sailing in ’90s or the ’00s.

But this is the first time I know of that two UH sports teams have been ranked No. 1 in the nation simultaneously. For these two specific sports, certainly, since sand volleyball is in its infancy as a program.

Enjoy this rare double while it lasts, because the SandBows will possibly drop from their lofty perch in the next AVCA poll. They were 2-0, including a win over preseason No. 1 Pepperdine and climbed from No. 4 to the top. But Hawaii was swept by No. 3 USC on Wednesday and dropped to 4-1 heading into this weekend’s Queen of the Beach Challenge.

Charlie Wade’s Men of War might enjoy a longer stay in the penthouse. Hawaii, which is on a 10-match winning streak, is off this week. The Warriors are 17-3 and 12-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, which in quality of teams is to men’s volleyball what the SEC was to football before last season: significantly more powerful than any other conference at the college level of the sport.

Texas is the only other school with two nationally No. 1-ranked teams in sports competing now. They are women’s outdoor track and field and men’s swimming.

In the national perspective, those two sports are probably on equal footing with volleyball in status. But volleyball is important to Hawaii. It’s our game. And if the men’s team can start drawing crowds like the women, UH is in that much less of a financial hole.

The women’s basketball revenue vs. expenses quotient is always rough, but the Wahine showed signs of cutting into the red ink this season with a well-attended senior night and some great momentum headed into the postseason.

Which brings me to this: Can we please stop wringing hands about coach Laura Beeman’s eventual departure — especially without even knowing when and if that’s ever going to happen? I bet most of the whiners didn’t even go to any games.

Beeman would never use this as an excuse, but so much travel back and forth to the mainland takes its toll on teams, and that may be part of the reason UH lost in the Big West tourney final, and then got called for so many fouls in Friday’s overtime WNIT loss at Saint Mary’s.

Still, 36 fouls leading to 49 free throws for the Gaels compared to 21 and 23 on the other side of the equation is a huge difference. Fans tend to blame officiating too often, but in this case there’s a legitimate beef.

This is what happens when you end up in a second-rate tournament. The refs come from the neighborhood and the visitors have to deal with it.

The bright side is the whistle-blowers can’t take away that Big West regular-season championship.

And, at least for this week, UH sports fans can proclaim "We’re No. 1."

Twice.

Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his “Quick Reads” blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.