Ninth-ranked Hawai'i found its way back from the familiar abyss early in the third set last night to knock off suddenly feisty Fresno State, 25-15, 19-25, 25-14, 25-12, in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match.

As they have through much of the WAC season, the Rainbow Wahine (17-3, 10-1 WAC) started strong, then started to self-destruct before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,402. Their most reliable passers were suddenly liabilities, sets went awry, hitters were handcuffed.

Then, after they fell hard in the second set and were getting embarrassed early in the third, the 'Bows battled back.

"I thought it said something about our team that they started slow in Game 3, could shake it off and still play pretty well and hold them to 14," said UH coach Dave Shoji. "It could have gone the other way at that point. We just settled down a little bit. Our passing was in disarray for a while and then we got it back together."

First, the 'Bows hit bottom when they were aced on consecutive serves to fall behind 4-6. Kasey Van Grouw missed her next serve and Hawai'i clawed back with an angry Amber Kaufman providing initial inspiration. She had four kills and a stuff as UH pulled ahead 11-10. Kaufman then served four straight to give UH separation — for the rest of the night.

"I was kind of (ticked) off about losing the second game," Kaufman admitted. "I told (setter) Dani (Mafua) I would like some sets and she started giving them to me. You ask for sets, you got to put them away."

The 'Bows had four stuffs in the set, including a triple block, and held FSU to zero hitting (eight kills, eight errors). Meanwhile, the Hawai'i hitters — all as perturbed as Kaufman — went off at a 13-for-20 pace. UH hit .600 in the third set and .515 in the fourth, when there was absolutely no hint of the breakdowns that have bothered them in the dog days of the WAC season.

"We knew it was just all our mistakes," said UH senior Nickie Thomas, who dropped in on eight of the 'Bows' 11 blocks. "They weren't really doing anything that we couldn't handle, we just weren't putting the balls away and making the plays we needed to. We were just (ticked) off at ourselves for not making smart plays."

Like Friday, when it blitzed San Jose State early then got progressively worse, Hawai'i was balanced and almost routinely brilliant in the opening set. The Bulldogs (5-14, 2-8 WAC), who have lost seven straight, were tenacious enough to stay close despite five serving errors — until the Rainbows scored the final five points with Mafua serving.

Then, for the second straight year, the eighth-place Bulldogs bit the 'Bows and took a set.

"They felt a little less pressure than they do in other matches," said first-year FSU coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. "They just wanted to play well and play in front of a great crowd and show people what they have been getting better at.

"I keep going back to Set 2 because that might have been the most poised we've been since the start of the season. That was really good to see and it's going to give us a lot of confidence."

While Hawai'i's ballhandling faded, again, first-year setter Allanah Munson started to find Baylee Platt, Lacey Gera and Lauren Berger. FSU, which has no seniors, took 10 more swings in the second set and had four more kills, and four aces.

"Fresno served tough," Shoji said. "They missed a lot of serves in Game 1 and I just knew that if they were hitting those serves it would have been different. In the second they were hitting those serves and it caused us some problems."

Last night, Hawai'i gathered itself as soon as those two aces hit the floor in the third set and blew through to the end, accumulating its second-best hitting (.454) and blocking totals of the season. Kanani Herring (13), Jamie Houston (12) and Kaufman (11) all had double-digit kill totals — Herring hitting .571 the final two sets. Libero Tara Hittle collected 16 digs.

The Rainbows returned to the top of the WAC, a half-match ahead of New Mexico State. They are home again this week, hosting Nevada Friday and Utah State Saturday.

NOTES

The Rainbow Wahine wore pink socks, knee pads, ribbons and headbands yesterday to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month. ... Eighth-ranked Florida lost its first Southeastern Conference match yesterday, falling to Georgia in five.