UCLA went big, then went home with yet another Outrigger Hotels Volleyball Invitational title.

Relying on big arms and a big block, the Bruins defeated Hawaii 25-22, 25-23, 25-23 on the final night of the round-robin tournament.

The Bruins, who won all three matches, earned their seventh title in 12 tournament appearances, including 10 in a row over the Warriors.

This is an early leg of the farewell tour for Al Scates, who is retiring after 50 years as UCLA’s coach. (The Bruins return here for two matches in February.)

Pacing on surgically repaired knees, Scates maintained a what-me-worry stare through the match.

"I was really relaxed in the beginning," Scates said. "And then I noticed they were hitting about .500 halfway through, and that made me nervous."

Indeed, the feisty Warriors sided out at 80 percent, and applied pressure with the left-side offense of Steven Hunt and J.P. Marks.

The Warriors built leads of 18-15 in the second set, and 10-6 in the third.

But the Bruins refused to panic.

"Well, no," Scates said. "We have a big block and a big serve. We can come back."

What’s more, the Bruins have five senior starters, including 6-foot-9 setter Kyle Caldwell.

The shortest attacker — Gonzalo Quiroga, who is generously listed at 6-4 — produced key plays. Quiroga finished with 11 kills, two aces and a team-high seven digs.

"I give a lot of credit to Gonzalo," middle blocker Thomas Amberg said. "He played one of his best matches. And he passed well. As long as we pass well, with Wes (Dunlap) and me in the middle, we can take the (opposing) middles out of it, and have one-on-one opportunities (for pin attackers) on the outside. If we can do that, we can be tough to beat."

Quiroga was held out of Friday night’s match because of a sore back.

"I wanted to make sure he was 100 percent (Saturday night), and he was," Scates said. "This is the old Gonzalo. He was taking it easy because of his back, but now he’s fine."

Caldwell said: "It’s fun to set him. He’s a really smart player. He’s been playing since he was little. Now that he’s at this level, he knows how to read the blocks and make the adjustments. It’s pretty easy to set him. If it’s a bad set, he can move to the ball."

The Bruins benefited from improved serving. After a disastrous second set against Lewis on Thursday night, the Bruins had 1-hour serving sessions the next two mornings.

The Bruins’ tough serves gave them time to build the block. They had 12 blocks, including five by Amberg, who played with a splint on his left (non-hitting) hand. Last year, he split the webbing on his left hand three times and broke his left pinkie.

"I still have my thumb and index finger, so I can still set and do everything," Amberg said.

The Warriors, meanwhile, relinquished 16 points on service errors, including 12 in the first two sets. UH coach Charlie Wade said the reward/risk odds favor tough serving.

"If you serve easy, you have no chance," Wade said. "They’ll pound the middle at will. Could we have been more efficient with our serves? Yes. But that’s part of the deal."

The Warriors, who fell to 2-3, will play two road matches against Pepperdine this coming weekend.

Wade described UH’s performances against UCLA as "respectable."

"I’ve never been huge on the whole moral-victory thing," Wade said. "I’m bitterly disappointed about losing matches. But you have to be realistic where this team is in its development. This is a new team. We’ve played five matches in the first two weeks. There’s a lot of volleyball in front of us."

In the early match, Lewis beat Springfield 25-20 25-18, 27-25 to finish second in the tournament.