PALO ALTO, Calif. – Eyebrows were raised when third-ranked Hawaii was seeded no higher than 12th in the NCAA volleyball tournament.

No. 8 and fifth-seeded Illinois learned first- hand Friday night why the Rainbow Wahine surely deserved more respect from the NCAA tournament committee.

"They're a great team, and they really came at us from all sides," Illini outside hitter Laura DeBruler said after Hawaii ended Illinois' season with a 21-25, 25-10, 27-25, 25-16 victory at the Maples Pavilion. "They just played great all around."

The Illini (26-6), making their second straight Sweet 16 appearance, were looking to advance to the regional finals for the first time since 1992. Standing in their way was a Hawaii (31-2) team that entered with 26 straight victories.

Despite a strong start, Illinois ultimately couldn't overcome the Rainbow Wahine's superior serving and passing. Hawaii finished with an 8-2 edge in service aces and a 60-44 advantage in digs.

"They won that battle, no question," Illini coach Kevin Hambly said. "I think they're a great serving team. In sets 1 and 3, we got them out of system. When they were in system, they were really tough to stop."

Hawaii hit .298, while Illinois – which had a .311 attack percentage in the first two rounds of the tournament – was held to .203.

For the Illini, the tipping point in the match came during an intense third-set battle. Neither team led by more than three points, there were nine ties and each team fended off the other's set point one time.

Illinois' chance to capture the set came after DeBruler delivered a service ace to put Hawaii in a 25-24 hole. But Kanani Danielson tied the score with a kill and Aneli Cubi-Otineru followed with two kills to put the Rainbow Wahine ahead two sets to one.

"That was the key," Hambly said. "We needed that set bad. We had opportunities, and we didn't take advantage. It was a little discouraging because we had some swings to win it."

Illinois was unable to rebound from the tough-to-swallow third-set defeat, quickly falling behind in the fourth set 5-1 and then 9-2.

"It's tough, especially when you're trying to fight as hard as you can (in the third set) and you don't come up with that win," DeBruler said.

Senior outside hitter Kylie McCulley led the Illini with 14 kills, while DeBruler produced a double-double (13 kills, 13 digs).

"I'm really disappointed, just because you don't want to be done with the season," Hambly said. "But I'm not discouraged. We're getting better as a program, and we're getting better as a team."