Nevada's threat to 12th-ranked Hawai'i lasted about as long as it took to mangle a few passes.

The Rainbow Wahine servers ripped through the Wolf Pack early and often last night in a 30-13, 30-25, 30-19 Western Athletic Conference volleyball victory before 5,149 at Stan Sheriff Center.

In their first match in 10 days, the 'Bows (12-3, 6-0 WAC) took away Nevada's nerve in a lopsided first game and then fell back on the all-but-automatic offense of Jamie Houston (16 kills) and Tara Hittle (13). Both have struggled with consistency in their careers, but last night they were strikingly efficient.

Houston was hitting zero after her first seven swings. She finished at .419 — nearly 200 points over her average — and had one setting-induced error in the final 85 minutes of the match. She climbed into ninth on the career kills list in the process.

Hittle was even hotter, with one hitting error all night, out of the back row, and a career-high .706 hitting percentage.

"The one encouraging thing is Hittle because she's been struggling offensively," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "She had a great night. If we can get more consistency from her it will really help our offense. She was in a rhythm and hit the ball hard. A lot of times she has a little too much finesse. We've been working with her just to go after the ball and attack."

Hawai'i rolled to its ninth consecutive victory with serves that took Nevada out of its offense and what Shoji characterized as his team's best passing match of the season. He also described the match as "fun" because of a series of extended, often spectacular, rallies.

Nevada coach Devin Scruggs had no fun. She was happy only that her players didn't turn on one another during the carnage.

The Pack (7-7, 4-3) hit negative-.026 in a first game that got away immediately because of poor passing. Seniors Teal Ericson and Karly Sipherd, the nucleus of the Nevada attack, were 4 for 17 with five errors.

They would finish with 17 of their team's 29 kills, with freshman Lindsay Baldwin getting eight more — the rest of the team had four — and Sipherd in on four of the Pack's five stuffs. But Nevada never truly challenged after its confidence-killing start.

"Our passing is ridiculous," Scruggs said. "Our technical skills in passing are not good enough. Right now we have a couple freshmen trying to carry a fair amount of the load and we haven't had the opportunity to train them. That's their excuse, but there's no excuse for the older players not being able to pass better. We've been playing well despite our poor passing."

Stephanie Brandt, who had 32 assists, served through a 6-0 surge and Liz Ka'aihue went for five in a row to get UH to 28 before the Pack hit double digits in Game 1, or could score two points in row. Nevada gathered itself in Game 3, opening a 10-7 advantage despite missing four serves.

The lead did not last. Houston, who was 7 for 11 without an error in the game, drilled two kills in a row, the second off the side of Sipherd's face.

"Houston did a really good job of getting her feet to the ball," Hittle said. "That's one thing she's been working on. She's an amazing athlete. She hit the ball really well, wherever she wanted pretty much."

The Rainbows, who had six aces and five service errors, caught up in the midst of a four-point service run by Brandt and never trailed again — ever. Nevada called its first timeout down 6-1 in the third and never could close. At times it was brutal. Along with Houston's point-blank shot off Sipherd, the Wolf Pack took hits in the foot and knee.

Hittle launched a ball off a head and dead left into the stands. "Way off the head and up to like (row) Double-D," Houston said. "She played awesome tonight."

The Rainbow Wahine, who hit .278, said last night's coast was a continuation of what they accomplished in their sweep at San Jose on Sept. 24. The Pack hit .120.

For Nevada, it was the third straight blowout in Manoa after it took Hawai'i to five here three years ago. And, it ended its three-match winning streak on the road.

"We didn't even play close to the way we could play," Scruggs said. "At least that would have made it a little more competitive. I don't know if we would win, but this was nothing like the way we've played the last three matches.

"Hittle and Houston hit right at us, just at a much faster pace than anybody else in the conference. It was bouncing off our diggers' arms. We weren't making the plays."

Hawai'i plays Fresno State tomorrow at 5 p.m. It will go on two road trips after that, including a match at top-ranked Nebraska Oct. 21, and won't play at home again until New Mexico State comes in Oct. 26.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.