As memories of early struggles against top-five teams fade and anticipation of the postseason grows more pronounced, ninth-ranked Hawai'i just keeps blasting Western Athletic Conference competition.

Idaho was the Rainbow Wahine's latest volleyball victim. The Vandals fell 30-18, 30-23, 30-23 last night before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,790.

Hawai'i (18-6, 12-0) has now won its last 11 matches and 30 straight games. It has beaten 118 consecutive WAC opponents and is a win away from clinching a share of its 10th straight WAC regular-season championship.

All that is just a means to an end. The 'Bows are attempting to prepare themselves for the NCAA Tournament against a bunch of unranked conference teams who — with one exception at most — won't be playing after Thanksgiving weekend. It is not an easy thing to do.

"What we decided as a team is that is especially important for us to not even worry who is on the other side of the net," said sophomore Tara Hittle, who shredded the Idaho defense for seven first-game kills. "Whether it's Idaho or Utah State or Nebraska or Washington. It doesn't matter.

"Even if it's a weaker team, you shouldn't be able to tell the difference on our side of the court. ... We need to be playing at a higher level. I thought tonight was really good. There was a lot of energy."

Her coach, Dave Shoji, agreed: "The main thing I liked tonight is we had good energy, we had good communication going on. The kids were having fun out there. That's what it's all about."

The Vandals (13-12, 5-7) did little to get in Hawai'i's way — literally. They had just three blocks and allowed the Rainbow Wahine to hit .372, more than 100 points over their average.

Sarah Mason (12 kills, .632), freshman Jamie Houston (7 kills, .500) and Hittle (11 kills, .276) were particularly effective, while starting middles Juliana Sanders and Victoria Prince both hit .500. Kari Gregory, one of a gang of Game-3 subs, went .429 from the middle.

Hittle's numbers would have been dramatically higher, but she fired two free balls into the net and saved one of her most spectacular swings for a desperation set so far out of the court the best she could do was rip it into the referee's back.

"I had to try and do something. I couldn't just let it fall," Hittle said with a grin. "I don't know if there was any way, according to physics, that I could have hit it in."

In contrast, the Vandals hit just .148 with the Rainbows roofing 14 balls, led by Prince's seven stuffs.

"I think that mentally we didn't come out as focused and prepared as we thought we were going to be," said coach Debbie Buchanan, who brought Idaho here for an NCAA subregional two years ago. "We had too many people crashing into people at times, they aced us too many times for sure — five (three by Prince) — and on top of that we've got to block more balls."

Hawai'i started fast in Game 1, and it was over quickly. It scored the first three points, then got seven in a row to take a 14-6 advantage. Hittle provided five of those points with four kills and a stuff. Ashley Watanabe aced the 13th point and Prince and Susie Boogaard teamed for one of the 'Bows five first-game blocks.

Only Amanda Bowman, who had a team-high 11 kills, avoided the Rainbow roof. She was 4 for 7 while her teammates hit .034.

In the next game Mason — who plays opposite Hittle — went 9 for 15.

"Mason is just overpowering people now," Shoji said. "She's 6-3 and she's hitting against 5-11, 6-foot outside blockers and they are no match for her."

The Rainbow left sides were so good, and the passing off just enough, that the UH middles had but 18 attempts combined through two games — fewer than Mason or Hittle alone.

"I think they (the Vandals) played really well," Shoji said. "They were playing mistake-free and earned some good points. I don't think we played poorly. They are a pretty good team."

NOTES

Hawai'i plays at Utah State Wednesday and San Jose State Saturday before returning for the final homestand, against New Mexico State (Nov. 17) and Louisiana Tech (Nov. 18). Along with its other streaks, UH has won its last 37 matches on an opponent's homecourt.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.