There was a time early in the meaningless third set of a meaningless Rainbow Wahine volleyball exhibition match against Cal State Northridge last night that it appeared the best aspect of the evening for Hawai'i would be that it was meaningless.

Instead, in front of 3,179 at Stan Sheriff Center, Hawai'i hung the mother of all rallies on the Matadors and then ran out of gas to lose to tiny Nittaidai, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11, on the first night of its Spring Mini Tournaments.

Just when it appeared the 'Bows did not have the talent or tenacity to finish anything they started, they awoke from a 14-4 deficit in the first-to-15-point third set against Northridge, which won the first two 26-24, 25-23. With Aneli Cubi-Otineru blasting jump serves into the heart of the Matador defense, Hawai'i blew away 10 set points to eventually win 17-15.

The shocking stretch included two aces, a steady stream of digs, the blocking of freshman Stephanie Ferrell and Arkansas transfer Catherine Fowler and the Matadors' utter offensive frustration.

Hawai'i scored its 11th straight — Otineru said she once served 12 in row when she played for Southern Idaho — to get to game point at 15-14. Its comeback was temporarily derailed by one of the Matadors' many blocks, but the 'Bows closed it out with a roar of the crowd on setter Stephanie Brandt's kill and Ferrell's team-high ninth kill.

"We finally just got it together," said Otineru, who also had nine kills then added a team-high eight against Nittaidai. "We had nothing to lose — 14-4, game point, you might as well just go for it. We should have been doing that from the beginning."

The first two sets were not nearly as uplifting for UH, which finished last season 27-6 and ranked 18th. Its offense looked as if the team had been together a week and was without its best ballhandler. That was all true, with starting libero Liz Ka'aihue forced to miss the match because of a family emergency.

That left setters Brandt and Dani Mafua — who did not pass a ball all last season — as the only healthy players available at libero; walk-ons Elise Duggins and Rayna Kitaguchi are no longer with the team and were spectators last night. Tara Hittle, not-so-fresh off basketball season, showed up at practice and asked to play. She was libero in the third-set craziness against CSUN, which doesn't have a senior on its roster and finished 13-18 last season.

It looked a whole lot better than that to start the third set, which both coaches agreed to play beforehand no matter what the score of the first two.

"That was two pretty amazing streaks," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They were so good at the start and then I'm not really sure. I'm not taking much credit for that win. Chalk it up to neither coach wanting to call a timeout and stop it. It was something you don't see much in volleyball, running that many points either way."

Earlier in the 3-hour-plus exhibition night, Hawai'i negated four set points before fading out in the first against Northridge, 24-26. The 'Bows scored the first six points of the second set, fell flat and had to rally behind Ferrell to tie it at 23, then lost the last two points.

This was the first time since rally scoring started that Hawai'i played 25-point sets. The NCAA lowered the number from 30 for the upcoming season.

Otineru and Ferrell, who had seven kills in the first two sets against Nittaidai and zero in the third, were all the offense Hawai'i could muster on a night that saw them go nearly full rotations without a kill. They were also the primary passers and while Otineru was an all-WAC performer last season it was Ferrell's potential that might have been the most surprising aspect of Hawai'i's night. There were moments when she soared and her joy was clearly contagious.

The experiment with WAC Player of the Year Jamie Houston moving to the right side was not as promising. Houston hit into more blocks than she used in the unfamiliar position.

"That obviously needs work," Shoji admitted. "She's not comfortable there right now. She's going to have to be a little more patient and work a little harder at it."

NOTES

Nittaidai, which lost to CSUN earlier, 25-23, 28-26, clearly looked the freshest of the three teams last night. The Japanese team brought 22 players for training and sightseeing — the team was walking around downtown Saturday night in warmups. Last night it ran out of the tunnel and performed cartwheels and a chant, then went through a warmup that makes American colleges look like pregame slackers.

The Rainbow Wahine play Northridge again Friday at 5:30 p.m., then take on St. Mary's at approximately 7 p.m. The Gaels open against Northridge at 4 p.m.

The 2008 season officially begins Aug. 29 against defending NCAA champion Penn State.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.