The Hawaii women’s volleyball team’s habit of playing down to its opposition reappeared at a costly moment of the Big West season.

UC Riverside, which had never beaten the Rainbow Wahine in 33 previous meetings, stunned UH with a 29-27, 17-25, 25-22, 25-27, 15-13 decision at SRC Arena in Riverside, Calif., on Thursday night.

The untimely defeat knocked the Wahine (15-8, 9-4 Big West) out of a first-place tie with UC Davis (15-7, 10-3) heading into a showdown with the Aggies at noon Hawaii time on Saturday. UH slid into a four-way tie in the loss column with Cal Poly, UC Irvine and UC San Diego with five matches to play before the six-team Big West tournament.

The Wahine, trailing 2-1 in sets, survived in extra points in Set 4, and built an 9-4 lead in Set 5, appearing to be on its way to a fifth straight win — only to see UCR storm back and take the match on an 11-4 closing run. Sophia Ewalefo put down the decider on the second match point for coach Nicky Cannon’s team.

Junior Caylen Alexander put down 36 kills on 85 swings in a losing effort, hitting .318, while Stella Adeyemi added 12 kills (.345) and Jacyn Bamis 12.

Tayli Ikenaga had 27 digs and Victoria Leyva 19.

Riverside (9-18, 4-10), which sits well outside the tournament picture, got outhit by UH, .264 to .217, and was outdug by eight. Blocks were a wash. But the Highlanders compiled 10 service aces to UH's six.

Trinity Sheridan had 19 kills (.245) to lead the Highlanders.

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