After seeing a chance at a bounce-back win slip away, Hawaii was again left to ponder what might have been.

Yet the schedule won’t allow much time for the Rainbow Wahine to dwell on the missed opportunities in Friday’s four-set loss to Southern Cal in the opener of the two-match Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Series.

The Wahine entered the match looking to rebound from a heartbreaking five-set loss to UCLA on Sunday. The late-set swings again tilted the other way in the first and third sets on Friday and the Trojans pulled away in the fourth before finishing off a 25-23, 24-26, 27-25, 25-20 win before a crowd of 4,746 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Skylar Fields, a transfer from Texas, led USC (5-2) with 14 kills and was in on five blocks, and freshman outside hitter Jordan Wilson added 12 kills.

USC setter Mia Tuaniga dished out 38 assists and had 14 digs while leading a USC attack that hit .252 to UH’s .155.

USC sent back 121⁄2 blocks and the Rainbow Wahine tied their season high with 32 attack errors in falling to 2-5 with only tonight’s 7 p.m. rematch with the Trojans left before starting Big West play in two weeks.

“All credit to USC, they are a good program. But at the end of the day, when you look at the numbers, we really just lost ourselves,” UH middle blocker Amber Igiede said after a nearly hour-long meeting in the locker room. “We just have to be better with executing tomorrow, point blank, it’s just executing. Another opportunity and we know what we have to do.”

UH freshman outside hitter Caylen Alexander led the Wahine with her second straight double-double (13 kills, 10 digs) and a season-high five aces. Outside hitter Riley Wagoner finished with 12 kills against 13 errors and nine digs. Igiede finished with 11 kills on 19 attempts and was in on three blocks.

UH libero Tayli Ikenaga led the Wahine defense with a season-high 18 digs.

The Wahine posted 32 hitting errors in a second straight match, tying the season-high mark they set against UCLA on Sunday, when they saw a lead late in the fourth set disappear before the Bruins pulled away in the fifth. Even so, the Wahine nearly pulled off a comeback in the first set, surged late to win the second, and had a swing for set point in the third before coming up short in the match’s pivotal set.

“For me, just a missed opportunity,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said, pointing out the two-point margins in each of the first three sets. “If we’re leading in each category, except for blocking and errors, we should win.

“Obviously they’re a good team and they came out and they played. But with all those errors and two hitters hitting negative, it’s still a deuce game. There’s no excuses, we just gotta be better.”

They committed seven errors in hitting .083 in the first set yet still remained within striking distance and closed to 24-23 in a 4-1 run highlighted by aces from Annika de Goede and Wagoner. But the Trojans converted on their third swing for set point when Wilson scored off the block.

UH’s error count went up to 12 in the second set, but again the Wahine stayed close with the aid of four USC service errors. Alexander again gave the Trojans fits from the service line and fired her third ace of the match to trigger a 7-2 run that gave the Wahine a 20-17 lead. USC pushed ahead again and earned set point at 24-23. UH setter Kate Lang, who finished with 39 assists, went to Alexander for a kill off the block to force deuce and another that landed in the corner to give UH set point. After a USC timeout, Igiede’s serve hung on the tape before falling to the court for an ace that tied the match at 1-1.

USC opened up a 22-18 lead in the third set before the Wahine answered with a 6-1 surge sparked by a block by Wagoner and Tiffany Westerberg. Both teams fought off a set point, with UH tying it 25-25 when Wagoner’s swing went off the block and into the antenna.

But her ensuing serve landed long. In a turnabout from Set 2, Wilson’s serve hit the tape before falling to give the Trojans the set and a 2-1 lead in the match.

“We’re doing what we need to do to take them out of system, and they’re taking chances and taking swings and we’re just not doing our assignments,” Ah Mow said.

USC took control of the fourth set with a 7-2 run that started with a UH service error and included four Wahine hitting errors. UH committed nine hitting errors and four service errors in the set and the Trojans earned match point at 24-15. UH fought off five with Igiede at the service line. The Wahine couldn’t bring back Kalyah Williams’ sixth kill to end the match.

“It felt like we got momentum, but if I’m being honest we should have gotten momentum way before that,” Igiede said. “It was just way too late, we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.”