Presenting a fundamental lesson in volleyball fundamentals, top-ranked Penn State dispatched Hawai'i last night to win the Outrigger Hotels Invitational.

The scores were 30-22, 21-30, 30-22, 30-23.

The Nittany Lions, who are the defending national champions, relied on the basics — tough serving, efficient passing and a multiple attack — to claim the koa bowl with a 3-0 record.

The Warriors were 1-2 in the round robin, but hardly discouraged.

"It was a good effort," said UH coach Mike Wilton, whose starting lineup featured three freshmen and a sophomore. "I'm happy for my team. They showed up and battled all of the way. A lot of our guys grew up, I think."

The Warriors were without middle blocker Matt "Dragon" Rawson, who started the season's first two matches. Rawson is suffering from a subluxed left shoulder.

The Warriors' fireman — Jim Clar, the team captain who can play all three outside positions — also was off duty. Clar, who had offseason shoulder surgery, received a cortisone shot yesterday. He should be available for Thursday's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener against No. 2 Pepperdine.

But all of that mattered little when the Nittany Lions were in system.

The Warriors' best serves could not escape libero Dennis Del Valle's forearms, where they were parlayed into easy pop-ups to setter Edgardo Goas. Del Valle, who appears to be at least 3 inches shorter than his listed height of 5-8, provided a (loud) voice of reason in leading the transition from defense to offense.

"I was trying to keep the energy on the team, and be loud, and be positive for everybody," Del Valle said.

And when Goas can pivot-step to receive passes, the Nittany Lions' menu of plays expands.

"I thought Edgardo had a really good match," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. "When we're serving and blocking and passing well, all of a sudden we're in sync."

It also helped that Goas was healthy. He suffered from stomach-flu-like symptoms in the two practices leading to the Nittany Lions' departure from State College, Pa.

"My stomach was acting weird," Goas said. "I was puking. But thanks to God, I'm fine, and healthy for the games. That's what counts."

Goas had weapons at every rotation turn. He placed quick sets to middles Max Holt (11 kills in 12 swings, .917 hitting percentage) and Max Lipsitz (12 kills, .474), and high sets to the pin hitters Joe "Thunder" Sunder (17 kills, .517) and Ryan Sweitzer (14 kills).

Holt and Lipsitz both can touch 11 feet 7. Holt also is versatile enough that, when he is the server, he is a threat on pipe attacks from the middle of the back row.

Sunder, who made his first career start, wasted little time in releasing the butterflies.

"Playing made me more comfortable," Sunder said. "And Edgardo gave me good sets. It was easy to put away balls."

The Nittany Lions won the 2008 title with 6-foot setter Luke Murray at the controls. Goas, who redshirted last season, is 5 inches taller.

"We had to adjust to him, too," Holt said. "I think we were able to do that in this tournament."

Goas said: "We're getting used to playing with each other. It's like a new team. Little by little, we're going to get better."

Last night, the Nittany Lions were helped by key runs in Sets 3 and 4.

Down 7-6, the Lions scored six points in a row. Sunder was the server for five of those points.

"Early missed serves got to me," Sunder said. "I decided to put it on them, and it paid off."

In Set 4, UH closed to 21-20. But Sean Carney served long, and then Sweitzer pounded consecutive aces.

Soon after, Holt, who had 10 aces in the first two matches, was the server when the Nittany Lions extended a 26-22 lead to match point.

"In this league, you can't give up runs and expect to win," said sophomore outside hitter Joshua Walker, who led the Warriors with 18 kills. "We have to work on cutting out those runs."

Still, Walker said: "It's fun out there. We love to play volleyball. The last thing we're worried about is being scared or stats. We want to win, and get back that respect that Hawai'i deserves."