Remarkable. Incredible. Unprecedented. Crazy.

There may not be enough synonymic superlatives in Roget’s Thesaurus to cover it.

Hawaii’s 74 consecutive sets won was something that never had been seen before in NCAA men’s collegiate volleyball. The previous Division I-II mark at 32 — set by the Rainbow Warriors in 2017 — while impressive, now seems manini.

“The Streak” came to an end Saturday in the most appropriate of settings. A sold-out Stan Sheriff Center — the first capacity crowd since senior night 1997 — saw No. 3 UC Santa Barbara do what no one in Hawaii’s previous 24 matches had done: take a set off the No. 1 Warriors.

Down 2-0, Gauchos were in control of Set 3 early, leading by as much as six, the last at 22-16. Hawaii nearly pulled it out, closing to 24-23 when holding off two set points with a chance to tie it.

The response from the crowd? A standing ovation in recognition of the achievement.

“Seventy-four sets … I don’t know how to explain it,” said former Warrior Sivan Leoni, whose senior night was the last sellout in 1997. “To have the skill to amass that many, to find the focus to accomplish that task … it’s incredible.

“It’s something that can never be taken away from them.”

Nothing was being taken for granted this season. The plan for 2019 had been simple: Win.

Hawaii felt it didn’t do that as much as it needed to last season in order to gain the at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. It was a controversial snub that the Warriors took very personally.

The vow was to control what they could — on the court — and not have their playoff destiny left in the hands of a selection committee.

But nowhere in that plan was to win by straight sets. Beginning with the opening match on Jan. 10 against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Hawaii has been rolling both home (14-0) and away (11-0 including neutral site).

The Warriors — and their set streak — had rarely been challenged until Saturday. The most notable came in Set 3 against Lincoln Memorial when Hawaii had most of its “B” side in and was trailing 24-22. The Warriors reinserted several starters, held off three set points (24-22, 24-23, 25-24) and van Tilburg put down the final two kills for Hawaii, keeping the streak alive at 30.

The set streak wasn’t as important to the Warriors as another streak they’re still on. They have won 25 consecutive matches, which ranks sixth in NCAA history, and are behind UCLA (47, twice), Ohio State (42), USC (30) and Pepperdine (27).

Retired Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji knows about that pressure of being undefeated. His top-ranked 1995 squad was 35-0 heading into the regional final against Michigan State, losing in five after being up 2-0.

“I think the pressure keeps building obviously with every match you win,” said Shoji, who won four national championships in his 42 seasons. “The media will mention it every time, the fans expect it to keep going, it’s the back of the players’ minds even if you don’t talk about it.

“We came close to going unbeaten but never anything close to this many (sweeps). It’s pretty incredible and, I don’t care who you’re playing, it is impressive. And they’re still undefeated.”

Only three NCAA men’s teams have had a perfect season, and none since UCLA in 1984 (38-0). The Bruins also were unbeaten in 1979 (29-0) and 1982 (30-0).

“Others talked about it but we didn’t,” retired UCLA coach Al Scates said of being unbeaten. “I didn’t stress about it. We knew it was there.

“We had some very good teams that weren’t undefeated but still won the championship. Sometimes I think a loss is good. It made us refocus. It’s incredible to go undefeated.

“And what Hawaii did (the set streak) is pretty amazing.”

Former Hilo High All-State player Reed Sunahara played on two of UCLA’s undefeated teams (1982 and ’84). Currently the women’s volleyball coach at West Virginia, Sunahara said he’s been following the Warriors’ season.

“It’s incredible what they did,” he said. “I was blessed to be a part of some very good teams but we didn’t win every one 3-0. We went five at Hawaii, went five with San Diego State. For us, we were just focused on the next point.

“I can’t imagine winning 74 straight. Maybe it could have been done in regular scoring (pre-rally score) but with rally scoring and point per play, it’s just unbelievable.”

Former Warrior All- American setter Brian Beckwith agrees.

“It’s incredible for them not to have lost a set,” he said. “I don’t think that streak will ever be touched.

“A lot of it is how efficiently they’ve been playing, the lack of errors. That’s a big part of winning in three sets every night. When you’re on a streak like that, like the one we were part of in 2006 (winning 19 matches in a row) you’re kind of waiting for something to happen. And you don’t want it to happen in the playoffs.

“Sometimes a loss is not catastrophic. Sometimes it’s an exhale. Saturday after losing, they came out and smashed UCSB (leads of 10-3 and 19-11 in a 25-19 Set 4 win). I think that was the exhale they needed.”

Retired Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro’s 1998 squad went 36-0 to become the first unbeaten NCAA women’s team. A few weeks later, he met with the late legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who had four undefeated seasons in his 10 championship runs and a men’s record 88-game win streak.

“He said he knew that we went undefeated,” Gimmillaro said. “I was feeling pretty darn good about that. Then he asked how many sets we lost. I told him, ‘Six.’ He asked, ‘What happened?’

“When you look at the history of all sports, there are very few undefeated teams. I think what Hawaii has done is insane.”

Warrior sophomore libero Gage Worsley said the most important thing about losing the set was how the team responded.

“Personally, I was (mad) but it wasn’t about the streak,” he said. “Any type of losing doesn’t feel good.

“It showed what we are made of. Wake the beast? Big mistake. We got the job done.”

There was one good thing about the streak being over, according to Hawaii coach Charlie Wade.

“Good in the sense that the media kept bugging me about it,” he said, “because we were the ones not talking about it. We’re still having a pretty good year.”

The one streak is over at 74. The Warriors are already working on a new one: the streak is at 1 heading into Friday’s showdown at No. 2 Long Beach State.

WOMEN’S RECORD

The NCAA women’s record for consecutive sets won is 111, held by the 2008 Penn State championship team that went 38-0. It started in Set 5 of the 2007 title match against Stanford and ended in Set 3 of the national semifinal against Nebraska.

“I commend Charlie for the job he’s doing and how they were able to string it out like that,” Penn State coach Russ Rose said. “It’s a reflection on … an incredibly talented group.

“In hindsight, I know how hard it is to do. We never talked about it when it was happening. The goal is always the national championship. It was just one (set), they didn’t lose the game. I know how important to the program and the Hawaii volleyball community it would be to win the national championship.”