These senior nights keep getting better and better.

I thought the women’s basketball one was sublime, with its authentic Polynesian revue following a Rainbow Wahine win celebrating the six-year career of Shawna Kuehu and the other University of Hawaii seniors.

But Saturday’s men’s volleyball regular-season finale topped them all, with stirring emotion from beginning to end — even though the match itself didn’t provide very much drama.

Brook Sedore’s marriage proposal to former UH water polo player Keola Kahaulelio (she accepted, whew!) capped a perfect event.

The Rainbow Warriors don’t surprise us with their excellence anymore, with 16 wins in a row and their No. 1 national ranking. But consistency is always something at which to marvel. So is efficiency, and UH’s lack of errors — six for the entire match — was incredible.

Stanford is stumbling through an off season. But beating the Cardinal in anything at any time is extremely gratifying. I’m not a sports hater, and I don’t find their teams or fans to be obnoxious. But they’re just almost always so darned good at everything, sports and otherwise, that a win over folks from The Farm is to be cherished — especially two dominant sweeps like the ones the Warriors produced Friday and Saturday.

There were a couple of tense moments on each night, but UH refused to lose.

And because most of the sets were lopsided, the Warriors backups got a good share of action.

It’s getting like the good old days again with big crowds, with nearly 7,000 at the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday.

Sometimes fans catch on too late, and then the good thing is pau all of a sudden. But fortunately in this case there’s an encore, as UH is guaranteed to play at home for the first round of the playoffs on April 25. Between now and then they must deal with a solid BYU squad on the road next week.

And it is not out of the question at all to think this UH team could go all the way to a national championship.

OF ALL the emotional moments of this senior night, the one that touched me most came before the match even started.

The biggest star on the UH men’s volleyball team is senior middle Taylor Averill. He could be headed for really big things, like the Olympics. But I will always remember the Averill ‘ohana for much more than volleyball.

Taylor’s father, Mark, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Saturday’s match. And then he sang our state song, "Hawai’i Pono‘i."

The Averill family is from San Jose, Calif., and not of Hawaiian ancestry. But Mark took a month to learn the song, in the Hawaiian language, because of what being here has meant to his son. He sang it very well, from the heart.

Thank you, Mark Averill. For a couple of very special minutes you helped take my mind off conflict, off telescopes and protests, and reminded me of the true essence of our culture.

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