Same place, same time and nearly all the same faces.

Third-ranked Hawai'i and 15th-ranked Southern California play tonight in an NCAA Volleyball Championship second-round match at Galen Center, for the second straight year.

The Rainbow Wahine hope it goes like last season, a statement-making sweep that was their finest performance. The Trojans are looking for something very different, along with payback.

USC started slow and but finished fast in every set against Oklahoma last night to win its seventh straight. That led coach Mick Haley to praise the way his team did not panic.

"That's the growth we've gotten from this team," he said, adding that a year ago this same team — there were no seniors in 2008 — was "crescendo-ing down." Now they haven't lost in a month.

Alex Jupiter, a sophomore that UH coach Dave Shoji called the "most improved player in the Pac-10, buried the Sooners with 23 kills last night. She is 11th in the nation in kills and setter Kendall Bateman leads the country in assists.

Most think this match will come down to the outsides, particularly after Jupiter and Hawai'i's Kanani Danielson dominated last night. Both losing coaches alluded to that, along with Shoji and Haley, who had this to say about the Rainbows getting seeded 12th by the NCAA.

"Hawai'i is very close to where the coaches rank them in the coaches poll because the things they do well they do really well," Haley said. "Specific execution is the way you win in this game."

Shoji hit on another aspect, before this subregional even started.

"One thing we don't know about any of these teams is the character of the team, the heart," he said. "They all have great players, all are well-coached. We've got to find a way to break them down."

NOTES

Former Rainbow Wahine basketball player Janice (Branch) Ruggiero is in her 18th year at New Mexico. She has been Associate AD/Senior Woman Administrator since 2001.

She cut short her vacation to meet her team at its first NCAA Tournament in 15 years. It brought back memories of her one year in Manoa (after UNM discontinued basketball). It was 1987, when the 'Bows won their fourth — and last — national championship.

"I don't think volleyball is anything like what it is in Hawai'i, anywhere," said Ruggiero. "I've never seen anything like it.

"But, it's loud at home. We'll get two or three thousand and it's packed and they're going crazy, so it's pretty close."

The Lobos will play Hawai'i again in September, at the Stan Sheriff Center.

In honor of UH coach Dave Shoji's 63rd birthday, his team ordered a birthday cookie. It read "Happy Birthday Grandpa."

UH backup hitter Corinne Cascioppo is listed as "not cleared to play" this weekend after going to a hospital here Thursday. Cascioppo described it as "a little heart thing I have" that turned into chest pains because of stress. Yesterday she pronounced herself OK, along with doctors, and expects to be available if Hawai'i advances.

Tonight's second-round match will be broadcast live on 1420 AM and KFVE (5).

Sixth-seeded Washington was upset at Colorado State by the Rams. Two years ago, the Huskies lost to BYU at home. They lost at home again last year, despite winning the first two sets against Nebraska.