Hawaii began and ended the beach volleyball season seeing the same team through the net: UCLA.

The sweep of the Bruins on Feb. 24 at the Ching Complex gave the Rainbow Wahine their first win of what would be a record-packed season. On Sunday, a 3-2 UCLA victory gave the SandBows their last loss, one that cost them a shot at the NCAA title.

Hawaii (37-5), finishing third for a second consecutive year, then watched from the sidelines while the only two teams to beat the SandBows in 2018 battled for the championship. Top-seeded UCLA prevailed 3-1 over fourth-seeded Florida State, giving the Bruins their first beach championship and giving coach Stein Metzger his second ring; the Punahou graduate was the setter for the UCLA men’s team that defeated the Rainbow Warriors 3-2 in the 1996 final.

“I think it says we’re right there, we’re close but not quite there,” Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said in a telephone call. “I think we’re one of the top three in the nation and that we were in the mix (for a title) this year.

“I was pulling for UCLA, I like Stein, I like how he runs his program. A couple of swings, a couple of serves here and there and it’s a different story today.”

For a third straight match, it came down to Set 3 at the final flight. On Friday, the 2-1 victory by senior Hannah Zalopany and freshman Paige Dreeuws (Flight 5) kept the SandBows in the winners bracket with a 3-2 victory over Pepperdine. On Saturday, a 3-2 loss by Zalopany and Dreeuws put Hawaii in the losers bracket, setting up the fourth meeting with the Bruins.

Tied 2-2, sophomore Morgan Martin and freshman Lea Monkhouse couldn’t hold on against Lily Justine and Sarah Sponcil. The UH duo had been 7-1 in three-set matches prior to the national tournament; Sunday’s 19-21, 25-23, 15-11 loss was their second in as many days.

Martin-Monkhouse, losing their last three matches, finished 34-6, one of four SandBow pairs to win 30-plus this season. Senior Ka‘iwi Schucht and Emily Maglio, the latter foregoing her last year of eligibility, were 35-6; junior Ari Homayun and sophomore Amy Ozee were 35-7 and graduate students Carly Kan and Laurel Weaver were 31-10.

Kan-Weaver, at Flight 3, was the only UH pair that went undefeated this week, dropping just two sets when going 4-0. Their dramatic rally on ESPN on Sunday tied the match at 2-2 via a 21-19, 16-21, 15-12 nail-biter over Zana Muno and Savvy Simo, running their winning streak to 13.

Kan and Weaver were named to the all-tournament team along with UCLA’s Nicole and Megan MacNamara (Flight 1), Florida State’s Katie Horton-Hailey Luke (Flight 2), Pepperdine’s Skylar Caputo-Alexis Filippone (Flight 4) and FSU’s Madison Fitzpatrick-Francesca Goncalves (Flight 5).

“UCLA played really, really well,” Hall said. “It wasn’t our best day.

“It still stings. We had a really good year, a very successful year with all the records and accolades. I told the players this was the best SandBows team I’ve ever had. It will take time before we can enjoy what we did.”

Among the records Hawaii set this season:

>> Most team wins (37);

>> Most consecutive team wins (32), which was a national-best;

>> Most consecutive wins by a pair (25, shared by Maglio-Schucht and Homayun-Ozee).

Also, the SandBows won their third straight Big West championship, had all five flights honored with the inaugural AVCA Top Flight Awards, and swept the conference’s top honors, including the third consecutive pairs team (Maglio-Schucht) and freshman (Monkhouse), and Hall was named coach of the year for the second time in three seasons.

Schucht finished her career with 103 victories, No. 2 on the program’s list behind Nikki Taylor (105) and helped Hawaii defeat three-time defending national champion USC twice, just the program’s second and third wins over the Women of Troy.

Hawaii loses six players in Kan, Maglio, Schucht, Weaver, Zalopany and Allyssah Fitterer; the last was 2-1 in three appearances. Seven letterwinners return plus eight redshirts and three incoming freshmen.

Maglio and Schucht are expected to be named to the All-America team later this month along with players from UCLA and USC, all who were on the same NCAA-chartered flight to Los Angeles with Hawaii on Sunday. The SandBows remained overnight in L.A. and were scheduled to return to Honolulu today.