In a dramatic change of events from a year ago at the Stan Sheriff Center — and eight hours earlier on a football field in Logan, Utah — eighth-ranked Hawai'i hammered Utah State, 25-19, 25-14, 25-13, in Western Athletic Conference volleyball last night.

The Rainbow Wahine (19-3, 12-1 WAC) won their final WAC regular-season home match in 70 minutes. Last November, the Aggies took 2 hours to shock the 'Bows here, becoming the first WAC team to win in Hawai'i and sweep UH. It also ended a 108-match conference home winning streak. That remains with the Rainbows, and yesterday's football flameout at Utah State only aggravated them more.

"We were kind of playing with a chip on our shoulder tonight," said redshirt freshman Stephanie Ferrell, who started for Aneli Cubi-Otineru in the third set and buried six of her nine swings. "We remembered the loss that we got from them last year. We wanted to just come in and get out, quick and fast."

Many of last night's 4,133 fans saw last year's shocker and have lived through the Rainbows' drastic dropoffs this season. There was no sense of that last night, with UH senior Jamie Houston continuing her recent tear and Hawai'i dominant at every position.

"We've been having a lot of trouble with the second game lately," said UH senior Nickie Thomas. "It's been a little bit of a problem. Having the second game go so well, it was really nice to get over that. This felt really good in that respect."

Houston drilled the Aggies (9-15, 7-6) in the opening set, blasting half of the 'Bows' 16 kills. "Defend her?" Utah State coach Grayson DuBose mused. "Maybe I could give her some bad poi, I don't know any other way. I've watched five or six of their matches lately. She's playing as well as I've seen her play."

Hawai'i lost the first three points of the match, but caught Utah State at 6 as Houston took up where she left off Friday against Nevada. Her offense and Hawai'i's defense eventually put some distance between the 'Bows and USU, which couldn't put two points together again until it was down 19-13.

Houston would finish with 13 kills on .500 hitting — her third straight match at .500 or better — to lead the 'Bows, who balanced their offense as the night went on. Middles Amber Kaufman and Thomas each had six kills and combined to hit .500.

The 'Bows served Utah State off the court in the second set, ripping five aces — three by Kaufman. In the final set, Hawai'i went 18-for-31 without an error behind freshmen Kanani Danielson (4-for-5) and Ferrell.

"We've made some progress," said UH coach Dave Shoji. "I think everybody played up to their capabilities this weekend. It just feels good out there. It feels smooth right now."

So smooth that Dani Mafua set UH to a season-high .458 hitting percentage.

"Their ball control seems to be getting better and better as the season goes on," said DuBose "One of our goals was to keep them out of system if we could and give ourselves a chance against this big team. And they stayed in system a lot tonight."

The Hawai'i defense did the rest. Danielson (12 digs) and libero Tara Hittle (11) helped stifle Utah State into .159 hitting and held its big gun, 5-foot-10 senior Melissa Osterloh, to a team-high six kills. Osterloh also had four hitting errors and four more reception errors.

The Aggies had only 10 kills in the first set. That would be their offensive highlight, in a match that could not have been more different than a year earlier.

"I think they got down on themselves and didn't have the incentive they had at the beginning of the game — the hunger to beat us," Ferrell said. "I think we just outplayed them."

NOTES

UH senior Nickie Thomas accepted Matt Price's proposal of marriage on her 23rd birthday Thursday.

The Rainbow Wahine leave on their last regular-season road trip Tuesday. They play at Boise State Thursday, Idaho Saturday and Fresno State next Monday. The week they return, they play a non-conference match against Utah Valley Nov. 15. That is preceded by the alumnae match.

The WAC Tournament will be played here for the first time. It opens at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 20, with the semifinals the following day and the championship Nov. 23. Hawai'i has reached the championship match every year there has been a tournament, losing the first two years to BYU and winning the rest.

In matches involving ranked teams this weekend, fifth-ranked Stanford swept sixth-ranked Washington; 19th-ranked Pepperdine lost to Saint Mary's and Santa Clara to drop to 4-5 in the West Coast Conference, and; Cal Poly, which plays here Thanksgiving week, was swept by Pacific Friday and fell to UC Davis last night.