A year after opening its volleyball season with an astonishing comeback, the University of Hawai'i was stopped in the midst of a sequel by Michigan last night in the ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

The Wolverines upset the 10th-ranked 'Bows, 30-14, 30-28, 22-30, 27-30, 18-16, before 5,948 at Stan Sheriff Center.

Oregon State outlasted Colorado State, tonight's UH opponent, 30-27, 25-30, 24-30, 30-28, 18-16, in the 2-hour, 46-minute opener. The Beavers, who won on their fourth match point, play the Wolverines tonight and the 'Bows tomorrow.

The Rainbow Wahine started about as low as they could go last night and somehow, behind first-year players Stephanie Brandt, Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Liz Ka'aihue, fought their way back.

In the final game , they pulled ahead 10-8 on a missed serve — Michigan had 18 — and one of Kari Gregory's eight blocks. The Wolverines, who made the NCAA Tournament last year despite finishing seventh in the Big Ten, refused to let them get away.

The teams traded points until Hawai'i got to match point at 14-12 on a brilliant Brandt set to Amber Kaufman. But Michigan senior Lyndsay Miller erased two match points and gave the Wolverines their own with three straight kills.

Tara Hittle erased that for UH and, after a huge rally won by Michigan, Otineru's 16th kill erased another. But Miller's 17th kill gave the Wolverines one more try, and Otineru hit out to end it after 2 hours and 44 minutes.

Hawai'i opened the season with a thud so loud it might have been heard in Ann Arbor. After a huge roar brought the 'Bows out for their 2007 season — it was so loud the Wolverines started laughing — about all that went right for UH in Game 1 was that no one got hurt.

The Rainbows shanked passes, serves and swings with equal abandon. They hit zero — 8 kills, 8 errors — and were lucky it was that high. All-American Jamie Houston took nine swings and scored four points, for Michigan.

And it wasn't so much that their vaunted block was silent, but that it never even got a whiff of a Wolverine hitter. Michigan hit an astounding .684 against the heart of the fourth-best blocking team in the country last year.

By the time a Wolverine missed, they were ahead 23-12.

Punahou graduates Ka'aihue (libero) and Otineru (right side) subbed in to start the second game for UH. The block joined them. Three of Hawai'i's first five points were loud stuffs, from Otineru, Houston and Gregory.

The 'Bows used the momentum to create a 20-16 advantage, with an assist from six missed Michigan serves. But still, Hawai'i had no offense.

Once the Wolverines stopped missing serves, they caught UH at 26 and won the final two points on Veronica Rood's seventh kill and Houston's seventh error.

Houston's lone kill came nearly an hour into the season. Shoji sat her the rest of the night, moving Otineru to the left and bringing Brandt in at setter.

Suddenly the middles, who had just 11 swings the first two games, began to get involved in the offense, with Juliana Sanders getting eight kills. And the defense, which managed but 13 digs the first two games, was everywhere behind Otineru, Ka'aihue and Elise Duggins.

The result was a runaway. Hawai'i hit over .400 — it was at .017 going into the game — and dug 27 balls.

The Rainbows just kept digging. With their small lineup in and their All-American still out, they outscored Michigan 8-5 to start Game 4, and doggedly held on until the Wolverines caught them at 20 with a 5-1 run.

By then, Michigan was in a near-flawless rhythm. It scored seven of the next nine points before Hawai'i made one last push with Brandt serving, scoring the final eight points.

OREGON STATE WINS

Colorado State, which won the Mountain West Tournament last year to advance to the NCAA Tournament, and Oregon State, which did not win a Pac-10 match, each had four hitters with at least 10 kills. CSU's Jaime Strauss had a match-high 18 kills and OSU sophomore Rachel Rourke 17.

Kahuku graduate Camilla Ah-Hoy was Oregon State's starting setter last year as a freshman, until she suffered a season-ending knee injury. She made her return midway through the third game last night, setting the rest of Game 3. Transfer K.C. Walsh set the rest of the night.

"Camilla fits in in a big way," OSU coach Taras Liskevych said. "We were going to redshirt her but she did such an outstanding job rehabbing and we didn't want to be in a situation where there's a big dropoff between setters. We really think Camilla is going to push K.C."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.