KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Hawai'i caught a big wave yesterday afternoon, alas, the Rainbow Wahine fell four innings short of riding it to the Women's College World Series.

Hawai'i (50-13) fell to No. 1-ranked Tennessee, 7-1, in the third and decisive game of the NCAA Super Regional after scoring a 9-6 victory in yesterday's opener.

The Lady Vols (59-6) advanced to the college world series in Oklahoma City.

Brandi Peiler hit a solo home run off the NCAA's all-time strikeout leader, Monica Abbott, to give the Rainbow Wahine a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the decisive game.

The lead stood through three innings with Courtney Baughman pitching a perfect game until UT's Lillian Hammond started the fourth inning with an infield single.

The Lady Vols struck for three runs in the fourth, chasing Baughman (5-2) and forcing Hawai'i coach Bob Coolen to turn to Kate Robinson in relief.

Robinson, who had pitched 6 2/3 innings in winning the first game and was struck in the hand by a pitch, was clearly not as sharp in her relief appearance.

It appeared the Rainbow Wahine's 18 days on the road finally added up. Tennessee ran away with the game by scoring four runs off Robinson in the fifth inning while Abbott (46-3) hit the appreciable stride one would expect of a 6-foot-3 pitcher, retiring the final nine batters she faced.

"We came into Saturday thinking we didn't want to leave here without winning two games,'' said Robinson, who showed just that by seizing the moment on the mound and at the plate in the opener.

Robinson (17-1) went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, driving in the first two runs with a single up the middle against Abbott.

Tennessee coach Ralph Weekly pulled Abbott after Robinson's rip, resting his ace for the second game and replacing her with Megan Rhodes (13-3).

The Lady Vols tied the score 2-2 with the help of a throwing error in the top of the third, but Hawai'i buried Rhodes with three runs in the third and fourth innings, building an 8-2 advantage on the strength of home runs from Robinson, Alana Power and Julie Franklin.

"We made an adjustment at the plate,'' said Coolen, whose team was no-hit by Abbott in a 9-0 loss Friday night. "We hit Monica, and we hit her hard.''

Franklin's success had left many in Knoxville wondering if the Rainbow Wahine were indeed a team of destiny; entering the day she was just 1 for 13 (.077) at the plate this season. Yesterday, the seldom-used sophomore shortstop batted 3 for 6 with three RBIs, including the home run and a double.

Hawai'i tacked on a run in the sixth on Tyleen Tausaga's RBI single to go up 9-2 before the Lady Vols rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh. Coolen brought in Baughman to get the final out and force the winner-take-all final game.

The Rainbow Wahine's nine runs were the most scored on Tennessee in more than two years, and the win was the first by an opponent in 28 games at Tyson Park this season.

"Hawai'i is such a great hitting team that I knew they wouldn't just roll over and hand it to us,'' said UT shortstop Liane Horiuchi, a 2005 Kamehameha Schools graduate. "This was really exciting today. Hawai'i just has so much fight in them.''

And the Rainbow Wahine also showed great sportsmanship, presenting the Lady Vols with hand-made lei they had prepared.

"The people of Hawai'i are warriors,'' said Weekly, who was the Commander of the Air Force office of special investigations at Hickam Air Force base from 1980 through 1985. "But they are also very giving.

"My heart is overflowing with aloha. Both teams played fantastic and left it all on the field.''