One of the best outings of the year for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team was followed immediately by one of its worst.

Coming off a sweep victory at fellow Big West contender Cal Poly on Friday, the Rainbow Wahine headed down the Central California coast to take on a struggling team in UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The outcome was completely reversed as the Gauchos sided out at above 70% and swept UH, 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 at the Thunderdome.

It was the first time this season that UH (11-7, 5-3 Big West) was downed in straight sets.

Hitter Caylen Alexander posted 20 kills against 10 errors, and middle Jacyn Bamis added nine to follow up her career-best 15-kill outing at Cal Poly. But Matt Jones’ Gauchos (8-12, 4-4), despite having lost three of their last four, were too good in beating UH for the third straight time and fifth time in the last seven meetings. UCSB was also the last Big West team to sweep UH on Nov. 4 in Honolulu.

UH had it tied for the last time at 16-all in the third before giving up a 4-0 run to UCSB.

The Wahine dropped two games behind Big West leader UC Davis (7-1) and stands in a three-way tie for fourth place with UC Irvine and UC San Diego.

Sophie Reavis, Eva Travis and Emma McDermott put down 10 kills apiece to lead the Gauchos.

Rainbow Wahine libero Tayli Ikenaga had nine digs to surpass Teee Williams at No. 9 on the all-time UH list at 1,151.

UH will try to post a winning record on its three-match road trip at Cal State Bakersfield (9-11, 3-5) at 3 p.m. Hawaii time Tuesday.

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