Seventh-ranked Hawai'i's initial experience with volleyball adversity this season collided with 25th-ranked Santa Clara's initial success on the second night of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational. It made for a wild ride won by the 'Bows, 25-19, 25-27, 30-28, 25-13.

Hawai'i sophomore Kanani Danielson had a match-high 22 kills, tying her career high. Freshman Brittany Hewitt (11 blocks, 10 kills) and senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru (14 digs, 13 kills) both had double-doubles. Amber Kaufman, despite some serious mid-match frustration, hit a career-high .765 with 13 kills in 17 swings, and no errors.

The Broncos were led by Krista Kelley's 13 kills and Dana Knudsen's 10. Those two, and a great effort from the Bronco setters and ballhandlers, looked like they might be enough to upset Hawai'i for much of the middle two sets last night. The teams traded set points with abandon before 4,619 at Stan Sheriff Center.

It came after UH controlled the opening set, hitting .556. That only seemed to tick off the Broncos, who had gone down so quickly Friday against ninth-ranked UCLA that their coach admitted he learned nothing about his team.

They came back with a vengeance in the second set and the 'Bows' response was erratic and often disappointing, particularly for a team that mowed down its opening night opponent and was facing a team with two new setters and five starting underclassmen.

"We didn't really respond," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "It's early in the season and you've got to go through these kind of stretches when you're not playing well. I thought we rebounded very well and made some key plays at the end of Game 3."

Cubi-Otineru's first hitting error of the season came on her first attempt of the second set — she stepped over the 10-foot line — but it preceded a 4-0 UH run. Then the Broncos began to find a rhythm. Their passing was nearly perfect, and much better than the 'Bows', as they tied it at 11 and began shutting down Hawai'i's hitters.

Santa Clara pulled ahead 19-16 on a UH shank and got to set point at 24-22 behind Kelley and Knudsen, who kept losing the Rainbow blockers. Danielson's seventh kill of the set and a Bronco error tied it at 24, but Kelley and Knudsen weren't done. They got the Broncos two more swings for it and another Hawai'i shank ended it.

Kaufman's offense came in bursts. She had just three swings and one kill in the second set. "I felt like I was running around in circles," she said. "I wasn't doing anything to help the team. That's what I was frustrated about. I wanted to help, but I wasn't."

Hawai'i had nine hitting errors in the set — as many as it had the entire match Friday against Western Michigan, which was swept by UCLA last night, setting up an early season clash of top-10 teams in tonight's championship.

The third set was a sequel, only UH authored a different ending despite breakdowns.

"Just grinding out out it," setter Dani Mafua said. "Not letting the frustration take over."

The Broncos again got to 24 first on the second missed serve by a UH senior in the space of four points. The Rainbows would erase four set points this time, and Santa Clara two before Cubi-Otineru and Hewitt stuffed the 30th point after a Kaufman dig.

Kaufman called Hewitt's big night "the factor," but Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace had others in mind.

"It took a pretty good play by Kanani to pull out Game 3," he said. "UH made four just brilliant plays at the end there — two great digs and Aneli sent over a ball into the corner that killed us, and to save Game 3 Kanani just went over the top."

That one came on the third set point, after a brilliant dig by Cubi-Otineru and a relatively hittable desperation bump set by Mafua.

Santa Clara was finally out of comebacks. Hawai'i blew through the fourth set and got ready for UCLA.

"We kind of went through the whole cycle of emotions in the game," Kaufman said. "Hitting well, hitting poorly, passing well, passing poorly ... the whole thing."

UCLA (2-0) beat Western Michigan (0-1), 25-17, 25-14, 25-15. The scores were similar to those in the Rainbows' sweep of the Broncos Friday, only the big Bruins did their damage above the net — after a spectacular early rally demoralized WMU. The point, which included 12 digs and lasted more than a minute, put UCLA up 14-13.

The Bruins limited WMU to .112 hitting, a number illustrated best by Michelle Moore's struggles in a 6-kill, 5-error performance (.036). Moore, a 5-foot-10 all-conference hitter, led Western Michigan with 10 kills Friday on .248 hitting.

All the Bruins had big numbers. The team hit .552 in the second set, .481 in the third and .426 for the match. Lone senior starter Kaitlin Sather led UCLA with 10 kills while Sara Sage, who didn't start, and Dicey McGraw had eight apiece.

Santa Clara and Western Michigan play at 11 a.m. today, then fly home. UCLA and Hawai'i meet for the championship at 5 p.m.

NOTES

Fifth-ranked Stanford, which won in five against LSU opening night, was swept by Notre Dame last night.

Kamehameha graduate Rebekah Torres was named MVP last night after leading Pacific over Fresno State in the final of the Bulldogs' tournament.