HONOLULU — UC Irvine arrived at the Stan Sheriff Center with first-place standing in the Big West and one of the most vaunted service games in the country.

The Anteaters left without the first and with the second in question.

Top-ranked Hawaii took six of seven sets from UCI over the weekend to take over a first-place share of the conference along with Long Beach State heading into the final week of the regular season.

“It was huge,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “Long Beach and Irvine have to play each other (this week). Somebody said we have the tiebreaker with (LBSU), so as long as we take care of business next week we should be pretty good.”

UH (24-2, 7-1 BWC) hosts UC San Diego (8-14, 2-6) on Friday and Saturday.

This weekend’s matches provided the Rainbow Warriors a degree of confidence in one of the conference’s marquee matchups in the event that they face the Big West tournament’s host school, Irvine, at the Bren Events Center in two weeks.

UH defeated No. 5 UCI (16-8, 6-2) for the 12^th and 13^th straight times in their head-to-head series.

“It gives us a little bit of an advantage going into the Big West tournament,” said setter Jakob Thelle, “knowing the way they play and the way we can counter their plays.” Thelle had 36 kills, three blocks, three kills and an ace. He needs three more aces to match the all-time program record.

UCI coach David Kniffin called the Stan Sheriff Center — where UH enjoyed turnstile crowds of 6,710 and 7,748 over the weekend — to a “lion’s den.”

Kniffin thought that even the two losses in one of the toughest places to play in the country could help his group for the tournament two weeks from now. Irvine has ranged between third and fifth in men’s volleyball national attendance at its 5,000-seat venue, Kniffin said.

“This is a great primer and super useful trip for our ultimate objective of winning the conference championship,” he said.

“We didn’t execute on the volleyball part of the game as maybe we would’ve liked to, but I think we pressed against some of the limits of our current ability, broke through those and got a little bit better in some areas,” Kniffin added.

How that plays out for UCI will be potentially pivotal this week against Long Beach as the two nearby schools play a home-and-home two-match set Friday and Saturday.

Opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias, who combined for 35 kills over the two days, was complimentary of Irvine after Friday night’s match — but also voiced his faith in how well the UH fan base travels to mainland matches. It is the first time UCI is hosting the Big West tournament in men’s volleyball.

“They’re going to play, I believe, much better on their own court. But I think we’re going to have more fans than them, to be honest, so (this weekend) is going to help us a lot,” Mouchlias said.

The nation’s aces leader, UCI freshman Hilir Henno, opened up Saturday’s match with two aces in the first six points of the night.

However, he and his teammates would be held without one the rest of the way as UH rallied to take Set 1, then mostly cruised to a sweep over the next two sets.

“That was one of the things we really felt we could do a better job of,” Wade said.

UH finished with an 8-2 advantage in aces to go with an 8-3 advantage in blocks. The Rainbow Warriors hit .424 to UCI’s .341.

UCI looked early Saturday to make it a long night. Cole Gillis put down a kill to give the Anteaters set point in Set 1, but UH rallied immediately. Mouchlias, who moments earlier had an ace to get UH to 23-23, put down a right-side kill to knot it at 24.

Thelle and Hogland blocked Henno and Spyros Chakas put away the set on a deep shot after a nice dig by Sheward.

Chaz Galloway used his head for crucial point in Set 2 — or so it seemed for a moment. A richochet from his swing and the UCI block sent it back at his dome and it caromed from there to the UCI floor. The Anteaters challenged and were successful.

"I was a little disappointed, because Dimi had gotten one of those earlier in the year and he was like, 'welcome to the team,' and then they overruled it," Galloway said with a smile. "But it is what it is."

However, Galloway put down a kill then an ace for set point and his next serve forced an overpass and joust that elicited a UCI error.

UH was in control throughout Set 3, leading by as many as six points at 15-9. Chakas put away the match with a deep shot well off the net on an out-of-system ball.

After this Saturday’s senior night, six UH players will be traditionally honored, Wade said. They are setter Thelle, opposite Mouchlias, middle Cole Hogland, utility players Kana‘i Akana and Filip Humler, and reserve hitter Devon Johnson.

“I’ve put a lot of thought into that,” Thelle said. “Knowing that there’s not a lot of chances to play in the Stan again, and I want to make that as memorable as I possibly can and leave everything out there. All the fans have given me so much and I want to give everything back.”

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.