A volleyball match that served only as a prelude to Emily Maeda’s solo senior night Friday found eighth-ranked Hawaii ringing UC Riverside’s bell, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23, and Maeda wearing a new ring.

Her boyfriend, Chad Reis, proposed at the end of the evening. Maeda quickly accepted in front of some 6,000 of her new best friends — many in tears.

“I knew,” UH coach Dave Shoji said of the proposal. “They (Wahine Kristina Kam and Kayla Kawamura and Reis) cleared it through me. I thought it was a great idea.”

The Rainbow Wahine closed the regular season 26-2, winning their last 19. That included all 18 conference matches in their return to the Big West after a 16-year absence.

Becoming the first team in a decade to go through a BWC season unbeaten and extending their regular-season conference winning streak to 73 mattered little to the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,920, or the Wahine.

The team wore warmup shirts with the name and number of Maeda, their only senior, along with one of her favorite proverbs (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart … ”). When Maeda entered the match five minutes into it, the crowd erupted.

It would happen every time the 5-foot-6 defensive specialist out of Roosevelt High School came on the floor. She started the final set, changing shirts to play libero, and the crowd cheered each time she served.

“She is a role model for hard work,” Wahine assistant Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “She comes in the gym and works hard everyday, 110 percent everyday. It might not work out right all the time, but she’s going 110 percent everyday. That’s all you can ask for in an athlete.”

Hawaii had the Highlanders at Hawaii Pono‘i. The Highlanders roster is menehune-sized. They start just one player over 6 feet and 5-foot-6 freshman Ashley Cox leads them in kills. In one rotation, she is the fourth-tallest on the floor.

The Wahine found gaps with their serves and their spikes, when they weren’t taking target practice straight over the block. The only set in doubt was the third, when Shoji took out four starters.

Shoji used 16 players and the Wahine got off the court in 90 minutes, leaving the rest of the night to their immensely popular senior.

After Maeda made the final pass and Emily Hartong crushed the final kill — her match-high 13th — UH recognized Riverside seniors Jasmin White, Amanda Vialpando and Kristin Van Dongen and waited to celebrate.

The graduation/engagement party opened with a choreographed dance to “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” featuring Maeda and her 20 teammates in costume, with body and face paint.

“We wanted to go tribal,” Kawamura said.

Maeda convinced the crowd to clap in rhythm by the end, then waved goodbye and was lost in a heartfelt group hug by her teammates.

She bumped a Roosevelt-red volleyball into the stands before being joined by Reis and her family to watch her video. Kam read a letter to her “best friend,” calling Maeda’s faith an “inspiration to me every single day.”

Then Kam rolled out a large box that contained Reis, who got down on one knee and asked for Maeda’s hand. She accepted immediately and in tears, then waved her new ring at the crowd while the Wahine threw confetti.

Maeda graduated cum laude in social work in June and expects to have her master’s within a year.

But first, there is an NCAA championship to pursue. She has made herself a critical part of the Wahine’s drive for five — their fifth national title.

“She’s my inspiration,” said Kawamura a 5-4 defensive specialist out of Hawaii Baptist. “Everything she has been through. She knows what it takes to be a DS. She fought through it and she conquered. I hope I can be like her.”

Hawaii finds out its postseason fate Sunday. The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast at 11 a.m. on ESPNU.

Shoji is expecting to host a stacked subregional.

“We’ll have at least one Pac-12 team here,” he offered as an educated guess. “We’ll have a WCC team here. And another random team. Whoever we play is going to be very challenging. There’s a few automatic qualifiers, but we’re not going to get one of those walkovers.”