Hawai'i was never in danger of losing on opening weekend of the Western Athletic Conference volleyball season. The 15th-ranked Rainbow Wahine were not in danger of intimidating any opponents either.

The 'Bows (8-3, 2-0 WAC) went on another roller coaster ride last night, finally putting Boise State away, 30-28, 30-22, 30-24, at Stan Sheriff Center.

Now they take their show, which has been equal parts fright and might, on the road for the first time.

They will return, three matches later, with a much better idea of who they really are.

"I told the team if we had played New Mexico State tonight we probably would have lost, so we've got to tighten things up," said UH coach Dave Shoji, whose team does play in Las Cruces, N.M., Saturday. Eleven months ago, the Aggies broke the 'Bows' NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak there.

Before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,519 last night, Boise State (3-7, 0-2) lost its sixth straight, but clearly outplayed that other Idaho school that was here Friday. The Idaho Vandals never truly challenged UH while the Broncos gave themselves chances to win Games 1 and 3.

The Rainbow Wahine did not let it happen, to their credit. On the down side, their coach described his fifth consecutive victory as, in order, "pretty ugly ... out of sync ... not enough attention to detail."

His team did not deny it.

"We could have focused more," said Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who started the night an error-free 5 for 9 but struggled for her final seven kills. "I think we kind of took it for granted and went through the motions. I'm happy we won, but we should have been better."

Jamie Houston led Hawai'i in kills — as she has in all but two matches this year — with 14, but also contributed 25 percent of the 'Bows' 28 hitting errors. Despite getting swept, Boise State out-hit (.186-.181) and out-blocked (11-5) Hawai'i.

The Broncos did it without four-year starter Jamie Claussen (out two to four weeks with a knee injury) and with sophomore Arlee Tamietti (13 kills), who spent the first two games making the Hawai'i block disappear. Robyn Hewitt, whose sister Brittany has verbally committed to play for Hawai'i next fall, was 7 for 11 and hit .636.

The Broncos, who played UH tough for four games last season in Boise, fought hard enough to make Hawai'i sweat.

Separation did not come until midway through Game 1, when the Rainbow Wahine scored five straight with Tara Hittle serving. They nearly squandered their 19-13 advantage when Boise State erased four game points simply by keeping the ball in play. The Broncos ultimately regretted their six missed serves when Houston drilled her sixth kill to end it.

The 'Bows' woes consisted of a mixture of sloppy ballhandling, setting and attacking. They gave the Broncos 11 points on hitting errors and kept it close despite getting six more kills than BSU, and the missed serves.

"Hawai'i got off to slow starts," BSU coach Robin Davis said. "Obviously when you're playing a Top-25 team you have to come out with all the energy possible. You can be a little more risky so you're hitting serves a little bit more, hitting higher and harder just to be aggressive. We got some leads, but in every game Hawai'i did a nice job settling. They were really good the last six to eight points of every game."

Game 2 looked much the same. Hawai'i scored seven straight with Amber Kaufman serving, breaking to a 14-10 advantage. UH gave BSU hope with another short letdown, but pulled away behind Houston, who scored three straight points to stretch the advantage to 27-21.

After a ragged Game 1, Houston went 7 for 11 in Game 2, with Hittle 4 for4. The Rainbows hit .371 for the game, nearly 100 points higher than BSU.

Then they bottomed out to .025 in Game 3.

Part of the problem was a lineup change, with Jayme Lee in at libero and Kari Gregory and Amanda Simmons in the middle. The change took time to shake out. The Broncos broke to a 14-8 advantage with the help of nine Hawai'i hitting errors.

The Rainbows rallied to go ahead, 16-15, then staggered again, falling into a 21-17 hole before finishing the Broncos off behind Gregory and Otineru.

NOTES

Hawai'i leaves Tuesday for its first road trip, playing at Louisiana Tech Thursday, New Mexico State Saturday and San Jose State next Monday (Sept. 24). Its next home match is Oct. 5, against Nevada. The 'Bows will be going for their 104th consecutive conference win at home.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.