All-American Jamie Houston blasted her way into an elite Rainbow Wahine 'ohana last night, launching 24 kills to lead 13th-ranked Hawai'i to a 30-17, 30-25, 30-21 volleyball victory over San Jose State. Houston moved into 10th on the career kill list, ahead of Karrie Trieschman, with one of her finest performances.

Before a Spartan Gym crowd of 823 in California, Houston hit .605 — 400 points over her average. The junior has 1,254 career kills and is 12 short of No. 9 Diana Jessie. All the former Rainbow Wahine in the top 10 were All-Americans and four (Kim Willoughby, Teee Williams, Angelica Ljungquist and Deitre Collins) were national players of the year.

"Jamie was probably more in control than I've ever seen her," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Her armswing was under control. She got to every ball and made very good choices all night. I'm hoping something clicked with her. She tends to have unforced errors, but tonight she had none and that's real progress."

The only hitting error on Houston's stat sheet was the result of a set too close to the net. She got her eighth 20-plus kill match of the season in just 38 swings. Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Hawai'i's other left-side hitter, was nearly as efficient, going 16 for 37.

The Rainbow Wahine (11-3) have won their last eight, including all three on this road trip when they surged to the top of the Western Athletic Conference at 5-0. SJSU dropped to 6-7 and 0-2.

The Spartans led only for a brief period, at 3-2 in Game 3. Hawai'i blew to a 15-8 advantage in the first few minutes of the match and ran away with Game 1 behind Houston's nine kills. Shoji called his only timeout in Game 2, when SJSU cut a 22-14 deficit to 27-24.

The Spartans hit just .144 in the match. UH held their most potent offensive threat, Jennifer Senftleben, to 11 kills and an .095 attack percentage. Sophomore Kristal Tsukano, a Kamehameha graduate, was one of the few bright spots, with 12 digs.

UH freshman libero Liz Ka'aihue collected a match-high 16 digs and Hawai'i out-blocked San Jose 10-2, with Juliana Sanders in on four stuffs and Amber Kaufman and Houston three apiece. The Spartans got their only two blocks in the final game. The first cut the UH advantage to 17-15. The Rainbows reacted by outscoring SJSU 13-6.

"We played well and maybe they didn't," Shoji said. "They've got a new coach, a new system. They're probably trying to find themselves. We played pretty much error-free. That's something you've got to do on the road."

It was a match that concerned Shoji because of its place in the schedule, at the end of his team's first road trip and two nights after a marathon five-game victory at New Mexico State. The 'Bows won that 23-21 in the fifth, converting their third match point after fending off six.

"Obviously this was a very successful trip because we won all three," Shoji said. "I thought tonight would be a tougher match physically and mentally, being our third in five days, but that wasn't the case. The players really prepared well and played well."

Shoji gave his team "about half a day" to enjoy the victory over the Aggies, but with a 10-day break before its next match, it will get more opportunity to reflect this week.

"I'd love to watch the film again and enjoy that part of it, how we made some plays," Shoji said. "It's all kind of a blur now."

The Rainbow Wahine's next match is Oct. 5 against Nevada, at Stan Sheriff Center.

NOTES

Jamie Houston was named WAC Volleyball Player of the Week yesterday. It is the fourth time the Rainbow Wahine hitter has earned the honor. She is the first UH player to win it this season. Houston, from Huntsville, Ala., had 22 kills at Louisiana Tech and 29 at No. 25 New Mexico State. She also had four blocks in each match.

Honolulu's Clay Stanley was named Best Server at last week's NORCECA Men's Continental Championship, which Team USA won with a 5-0 record. Stanley had eight aces.