Senior night came a night early for Hawaii on Thursday, the penultimate match of their careers for seven of the Rainbow Wahine.

Led by senior hitter Casey Castillo’s season-high 14 kills, Hawaii got solid efforts from all seven while dispatching UC Irvine in a Big West volleyball match 25-19, 27-25, 25-16 in front of 3,063 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

It took just 100 minutes for the Wahine (17-8, 13-2 Big West) to run their record to 40-0 against the Anteaters (16-12, 10-6). It was quite the contrast from the teams’ Sept. 23 meeting in Irvine, Calif., where Hawaii was down 2-0 and won in five.

The Wahine, guaranteed at least a second-place finish for the second straight season, host UC Davis (16-11, 8-7) at 7 tonight in the conference finale for both. No. 15 Cal Poly (23-2, 13-1) can clinch a share of the crown with a win tonight when it hosts UC Riverside (9-17, 4-10) and win it outright at home against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

“I think we were more efficient tonight, did our jobs and executed,” Castillo said when comparing the last contest with UCI. “For me, it was about having good connections with the setters.

“Tonight, the blocking was going well. It’s something we’ve been working on.”

Hawaii outblocked UCI 8-4, with senior middle Sarah Liva in on four. The Wahine also won the dig war 56-53, led by senior libero Tita Akiu’s 15.

Senior setter Faith Ma’afala finished with 19 assists in surpassing the 700 mark and senior hitter McKenna Granato added 11 digs. Junior setter-hitter Norene Iosia added her 15th double-double of the season with 17 assists and 10 digs.

Hawaii hadn’t played since losing in five at Pepperdine on Nov. 6.

“The break was nice, mentally and physically,” said Akiu, who has had double-digit digs in all but one match this year. “We came out with a lot of energy tonight.”

Set 1’s highlights included two aces by Ma’afala, Akiu passing 400 digs for her career and the Wahine coming up with four blocks, including Castillo’s solo stuff of Loryn Carter that ended it. Hawaii had just one hitting error, hitting .314 to UCI’s .178.

Set 2 was much tighter, courtesy of 10 hitting and five service errors by the Wahine. After leading 24-22, Hawaii needed four swings and some anxious moments to end it.

The Wahine were out of subs at the end, with Castillo getting a rare turn in the back row.

Her service error tied it at 25, but Hawaii got a kill by Granato and an attack error by UCI’s Lauren Russ to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

Hawaii overcame a slow start in Set 3, tying it at 8 on Ma’afala’s third ace. Her 4-0 service run put the Wahine up for good at 11-8 and the Anteaters never threatened, trailing by as many as nine at 23-14.

For UCI, Abby Marjama had 10 kills, six coming in Set 1, and Haley DeSales added 16 digs.

Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said she was satisfied with Thursday’s performance, “except for the lapse in Set 2,” she said. “We can’t sleep on Davis. We have to come out and execute the game plan.

“I want the girls to have fun (on senior night), but we need to take care of business. I want us to play good volleyball.”

Playing in their final home match will be seniors Castillo, Granato, Liva, Akiu, Ma’afala and Angel Gaskin and redshirt junior middle Natasha Burns, who has decided to forego her final year of eligibility.