On a night so fitting even the final substitution worked to perfection, ninth-ranked Hawai'i closed its home volleyball season by beating Louisiana Tech in fast-forward and high definition last night, 30-16, 30-11, 30-20.

After the Rainbow Wahine (22-6, 16-0) finished their seventh straight perfect WAC season and ran their winning streak to 16 this year and 122 overall against WAC opponents, they celebrated the careers of seniors Susie Boogaard, Victoria Prince and Ashley Watanabe.

There is little chance they will play in Hawai'i again.

"I think this was our last match here," said UH coach Dave Shoji, whose team is headed for the NCAA Tournament after next week's WAC Tournament in Reno, Nev. "After last year, I don't see any way they will give us a home (NCAA) match now. I say, 'Surprise me.' "

Shoji subbed each senior out to standing ovations in the final game, Boogaard at 26-17, Prince at 28-20 and Watanabe a point later. The final substitution came after a moment of panic as Shoji desperately tried to remember who he could put in for his little libero out of 'Aiea.

He finally brought in 6-foot-2 middle blocker Kari Gregory — the player Watanabe replaces in the backrow and one of the 'Bows' least effective defensive players. Watanabe left to roars, and moments later Gregory hit the floor for a dig that ultimately won UH match point and officially started Senior Night festivities.

Boogaard, an all-WAC hitter and the Rainbows' purest passer, had about 50 family members and friends in from California. Her parents traveled to nearly every match in their daughter's four-year career.

"I'll remember the crowd and playing in that arena the rest of my life," Boogaard said. "A lot of college players don't get this, so maybe they don't know they are losing so much. But having that experience is one of the best experiences ever. When people come in here, it is so exciting. We are so blessed to be in that arena."

Prince's mother, Brenda, a Leilehua graduate, only missed a few UH matches after her daughter transferred from Washington State two years ago to become the latest in a long line of Rainbow Wahine All-Americans. Brenda brought her whole family in from the Northwest last night.

"I wanted to thank all the people in Hawai'i for being so welcoming and such great fans," Prince said. "I'd never been away from home before, and I felt like I was home the moment I got here."

Watanabe, another all-WAC player, came to Manoa as a walk-on. She worked relentlessly for five years, initially just to be allowed to touch the ball in practice, and eventually to earn the respect of her contemporaries and fans ecstatic to see a 5-foot-6 "local girl" make good.

Watanabe, who performs with her family's band, got things going early last night when she sang the national anthem and Hawai'i Pono'i, after telling the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 7,413, "I love you guys." Her teammates, and almost everybody else, watched her poised performance in awe.

By the end of the night, awe had turned to tears for those most closely involved. Even Watanabe's taped interview on the Jumbotron was a series of halting statements, mostly thanking God and her teammates, as she cried.

"She is the one player you can always talk to," said UH captain and setter Kanoe Kamana'o. "Just to talk, she always has an ear to listen."

Now, a month before graduation, Watanabe might be the player Hawai'i looks to most when it is in trouble.

"At the end, she was the one that was rallying the troops," Shoji said. "When we were down (early in the season) she became pretty vocal, which she wouldn't have thought about early in her career."

Shoji believes Prince's confident "presence" will be missed almost as much as her offense, whether she is hitting the "slide" play or launching an ace with what her coach calls the "best jump serve in the country." Prince is getting 90 percent of her risky serves in, and her team scores more than half the time she serves.

In contrast, what Shoji will miss most about Boogaard — beyond her reliable passing — is her sense of serenity.

"On the outside she was a real calming influence on the team," Shoji said. "She never let on that she was flustered even though she might have been. She just kind of bounced back all the time."

UH was coming off a poor performance Thursday, when it was forced to five games by New Mexico State. That breakdown might have been the worst thing to happen to the Techsters (15-17, 2-14) — who have lost their last nine — because UH wouldn't let it happen again so soon.

UH scored the first five points and buried 13 of its first 14 swings, then hardly let LaTech into the match the rest of the night.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.