UC Santa Barbara took care of the basics in a 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 volleyball victory over Hawaii on Thursday night at Robertson Gym in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The ninth-ranked Gauchos improved to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The 11th-ranked Rainbow Warriors fell to 5-3 and 3-2.

The Warriors’ three-game winning streak ended with their first road match of the season.

"We need to serve and pass better," UH coach Charlie Wade said. "There was a pretty small margin of difference in each set. Any of the four sets could have gone either way. I think every team had a lead in every set. We weren’t real crisp passing.

"We only had a couple of good turns from the service line all night."

Left-side hitter Jace Olsen served eight consecutive points in a 9-0 run in the second set. UH’s other left-side attacker, Siki Zarkovic, had a long serving run in the fourth set.

Other than that, the Warriors could not force the Gauchos out of rhythm.

Outside hitter Austin Kingi led the Gauchos with 13 kills. After Weston Nielsen struggled in the first two sets, substitute Matt Hanley closed with eight kills in the final two sets. The Gauchos also controlled the middle, building a 12-7 advantage in blocks.

Wade said it came down to the basics.

"They passed well, that’s what they do," Wade said of the Gauchos. "They were a little sharper on the serve and pass. That’s the game. That’s volleyball."

In recent matches, the Warriors developed an inside-out attack, with accurate passes leading to quick middle sets. When the Warriors can run the middle, it opens the hitting lanes for the pin attackers.

But the Warriors had difficulty jump-starting their offense. Inconsistent passing took away the middle option and, subsequently, made the offense more predictable.

"We just weren’t that good," Wade said. "It’s back to the passing wasn’t great. Then you start to become very predictable. They know you want to set the middle, and then when you do pass (well), they go ahead and commit (to defending the middle hitter)."

The Gauchos often sneaked a second blocker in front of UH middles Taylor Averill or Davis Holt.

Averill had seven kills but hit only .222. Holt had one kill and hit .143. Collectively, they hit .200.

The Gauchos found points in other areas. They had seven aces; the Warriors had none.

Setter Jonah Seif scored four points on second-touch swings. At 6-feet-8, Seif is the Gauchos’ tallest regular.

"A 6-8 setter is quite a luxury," Wade said. "When the (opposing) offense gets predictable, a guy like that is going to touch a lot of balls on the block. We weren’t as sharp as they were in serving and passing, and that usually wins the game."

UH opposite Brook Sedore finished with 19 kills. Zarkovic added 12.

After the match, Wade said, his players took "ownership of the loss."

"That’s what you’ve got to love about this team," Wade said. "A lot of times in a locker room after games, you’ll hear guys say, ‘We need to do this.’ We’ve got guys who are willing to say, ‘I let you guys down,’ ‘I’m going to set better,’ ‘I’m going to block better.’

"I think it’s pretty significant in terms of trying to fix what you need to fix, and guys taking ownership and personal responsibility for it. Nobody is pointing the finger at somebody else. They’re saying: ‘I can play better than this.’ "

The rematch is tonight at 5 p.m., with a live radio broadcast set for KKEA, 1420-AM.

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces).

Service Aces — Hawaii none. UCSB 7 (Staahl 2, Licht 2, A. Kingi, Seif, Delson).  Service errors — Hawaii 13 (Olsen 5, Ramos 3, Timmer 3, Sedore, Zarkovic). UCSB 18 (Seif 4, A. Kingi 2, Thompson 2, Staahl 2, Licht 2, Hanley 2, Donohue 2, Nielsen, Delson). Assists — Hawaii 47 (Ramos 40, Olsen 3, Averill 2, Sedore, Franciskovic). UCSB 47 (Seif 44, C. Kingi 2, A. Kingi). T — 2:09. Officials — John Martin, Rick Olmstead. A — 284.