A few teams that haven’t had much success against the Hawaii women’s volleyball team in the Big West have managed to beat the Rainbow Wahine this season.

Doing it a second time has proved to be a much bigger challenge.

Three of Hawaii’s four losses in conference play came during the first half of the season.

The Rainbow Wahine avenged two of those defeats with a sweep of UC Santa Barbara and a four-set win over UC Davis earlier this month.

UC Irvine, which opened conference play with a reverse sweep of the Rainbow Wahine on Sept. 2 for its second win in 48 all-time meetings, will host Hawaii to end the regular season on Saturday, giving UH a chance to go 3-0 in rematches of earlier defeats heading into next week’s Big West Conference Championships.

“I think those losses is what is changing (the girls),” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said Monday. “Not wanting to be in that position again I think is changing their mindset and mentality.”

UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center will host the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday and then again for the tournament, which begins Wednesday.

UH, which is expected to return home and fly back early next week if it receives one of the two byes into next Friday’s semifinals, won the tournament last season as the No. 2 seed.

The Rainbow Wahine are a half-game behind Cal Poly and UC Davis after both teams won in five sets on Thursday night.

Hawaii swept the season series against the Mustangs and split against the Aggies, with both teams winning in four sets on the opposing team’s home floor.

UH beat UC Davis 25-9 in a set, which was the largest margin of victory of any set between the two teams. Hawaii’s RPI dropped more than 10 spots to 37 entering this week, leaving all kinds of possibilities for postseason play.

The obvious way to get there is to simply win.

UH has gone 7-1 since getting swept at UC Santa Barbara. The buzzword thrown around by both coaches and players over the past two weeks has been trust.

Junior outside hitter Caylen Alexander has carried a heavy workload this season, ranking second in the country in total kills and kills per set.

However, less has resulted in more the past two matches. Alexander posted her two lowest kill outputs of the season in sweeps of Long Beach State and UC San Diego as Hawaii has shown a much more balanced offensive attack.

Sophomore Tali Hakas had 19 kills in 45 swings with only two errors and Stella Adeyemi had 22 kills in 51 swings as UH became a lot less predictable on offense.

Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow says part of that is senior setter Kate Lang trusting in everyone on the court.

“We’re peaking at the right time,” Ah Mow said on senior night. “I keep talking to them about the trust in each other. I think Kate is trusting them (setting) a few more balls and it’s working out. It’s coming together.”

Hawaii’s .340 hitting percentage against the Tritons was its best mark of the season against a team with a winning record.

That trust has spilled over to other aspects of the game as well. UH’s 13 blocks against UCSD were a season high and Hawaii has made opposing teams work harder on offense due to its strength of serving.

UH has committed just 10 service errors in the past three matches combined after making 14 in the one loss during the second half of conference play at UC Riverside.

Hawaii has had more service aces than service errors in six of its past seven matches after accomplishing the feat just once in its first 14 contests.

UH plays Cal State Fullerton (4-23, 0-17) today before closing with the Anteaters (15-13, 9-8).

UC Irvine needs a victory to have any chance of qualifying for the six-team tournament.