Not the prettiest. Not the cleanest. Not the consistency Hawaii wanted as a springboard when heading out on next week’s critical conference road trip.

But for all the “nots” the Rainbow Wahine had during Saturday night’s 90-minute Big West volleyball sweep of UC Riverside, they left the Stan Sheriff Center with the most important one: not a loss.

Junior setter-hitter Norene Iosia led the Wahine for a second consecutive match, putting down a match-high eight kills to go along with three aces, in a 25-15, 25-19, 25-17 victory. A crowd of 4,183 saw freshman middle Kamalei Krug add seven kills in her first career start as Hawaii (9-5, 4-0 Big West) defeated the Highlanders (5-10, 0-4) for the 24th time in as many meetings.

“It’s a win, and I’m always happy with a win,” coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said after the Wahine won their fourth straight. “I asked them to come out and get it done in three, and they did.

“I’m not happy with the roller-coaster play, the up-down, up-down. We want to see consistency with manini bumps in the road, not the pits we fall into.”

It can’t compare to the slide that UC Riverside is experiencing, a skid that has included the indefinite loss of senior Ka’iulani Ahuna (Kamehameha-Hawaii), the team’s kill leader who did not make the trip to Honolulu. The Highlanders, hitting negative .022 for the night, lost their fifth in a row and ninth in the past 10.

The most remarkable statistic on an otherwise unremarkable night for Hawaii was the eight digs for senior libero Tita Akiu. It was the first time this season she wasn’t in double digits.

The Wahine also were outblocked 7-6.

“There was a lack of energy tonight,” said junior middle Natasha Burns, who was in on three of the team’s blocks. “We can’t just show up when we want.

“We have a whole week to prepare and we’re looking forward to playing the top teams.”

Hawaii remains a half-game behind No. 15 Cal Poly (15-1, 5-0), the Wahine’s opponent on Saturday. UH opens its second road trip on Friday at UC Santa Barbara (11-5, 3-2); the Gauchos lost in five on Saturday to visiting UC Davis (9-7, 1-3), the Aggies’ first conference win.

Senior hitter McKenna Granato agreed about the lack of energy, saying “this was a match we should have had more fun,” after her performance of seven kills and three aces. “We needed to find that energy.”

It was lacking in the opening 10 minutes when Set 1 was tied at 14. But then it was over, with Krug putting down her first kill, putting Iosia at the service line.

By the time Iosia left, she had two aces, Krug had another two kills, the Highlanders were out of timeouts and the Wahine had set point at 24-15. Senior hitter Casey Castillo ended it after 23 minutes with her fifth kill; she would have just one more the rest of the way.

Hawaii, after ending Set 1 with an 11-1 run, opened Set 2 on a 6-0 tear behind Granato’s serve. The Highlanders settled down on serve-receive to make it competitive through 12-9.

Behind Faith Ma’afala’s serving, the Wahine had what appeared to be comfortable leads of 17-10 and 21-12. UCR made things uncomfortable, closing to 22-17, but ran out of room to rally, with senior opposite Angel Gaskin giving Hawaii a 2-0 lead on her third kill.

Set 3 was equally ragged. Granato and Burns each had four kills, while the Highlanders had just four total.

At 7-7, the Wahine slowly pulled away, using tough serving to keep Riverside out of system. Consecutive aces by Granato made it 17-10 and the Highlanders never got closer than five.

Sophomore middle Yuliya Ushakova led UCR with seven kills and three blocks, including two solo, and hit for a team-high .267.