For one night at least, the 15th annual Honolulu Advertiser Volleyball Challenge was anything but challenging.

Sixth-ranked Hawai'i and 10th-ranked Stanford blitzed Weber State and Texas-San Antonio in last night's first round, before a season-low 3,114 at Stan Sheriff Center. The results were so similar the losing coaches had almost identical reactions to their teams' struggles.

After the Rainbow Wahine (5-2) put a quick end to their two-match losing streak, the Wildcats' Al Givens shook his head at his 1-7 team's frustration, much as UTSA's Laura Groff had done 2 hours earlier.

"Hawai'i and Stanford are used to the level of competition," Givens said. "They are not in awe at the caliber of the athlete across the net. I think our kids got a little intimidated by it. If we learn from this and it makes us better, then it's a good thing down the road. If we don't learn, we're going to repeat history."

The Rainbow Wahine overwhelmed his team, 25-13, 25-13, 25-17, replacing three starters in the final set without any discernible dropoff.

"Weber State was obviously nervous and helped us early," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They got off to a bad start. But I thought we kept a pretty high level of play."

Where Weber State struggled Hawai'i shined, outhitting the Wildcats .378 to .025 and tying a season high with nine aces. Stephanie Ferrell had three — one more than her first six matches combined.

This is the 'Bows' third consecutive tournament to open the season, and the first time in six matches it had not played a ranked opponent. After discouraging, sometimes disturbing, losses to second-ranked Texas and then-10th-ranked Cal last weekend, it was just what Shoji felt his team needed.

"It was nice to have our players not have to beat up their bodies," he said about the 70-minute match. "I didn't want three straight weekends where every night was 2 1/2 hours. That would just wear us down. It was nice we could play well enough to end early."

Little about last night should wear on the Rainbow Wahine. They got at least five kills from four hitters, led by sophomore Kanani Danielson's 11. Amber Kaufman added eight, on .538 hitting, with two aces and four of UH's six stuffs, then characterized the Wildcats as "WAC-caliber" and a good barometer for the conference season.

Hawai'i scored 12 of the night's first 15 points and two of the Wildcats' points came on missed serves. The 'Bows hit .400 for the set, with 12 kills and two errors, and limited the Wildcats to .160 and nine kills — four by senior Chelsea Bair, who led Weber State with seven.

Weber State rode three more missed UH serves to a 6-3 advantage in the second set before the bottom fell out. Liz Ka'aihue served 10 straight points, with Danielson getting the first three and a combination of Wildcat miscues and Kaufman collecting the rest.

After last weekend's rocky performance, the most impressive set for UH might have been the last. It brought in three new starters and nothing changed. After an 8-all tie, the Rainbows scored 10 of the next 14 points with reserves Alexis Forsythe, Corinne Cascioppo and Jayme Lee contributing four kills, an ace and four digs.

It was precisely what the coaches wanted to see from a team asked to focus on keeping its energy level high, and not at all what Givens wanted.

"I think they are a little bit embarrassed that we didn't compete a little harder," he said of his players. "The outcome of the match was never in doubt, but for sure we're capable of competing better. ... I'm not sure that was the best thing for Hawai'i."

In a 64-minute opener, 10th-ranked Stanford rolled over Texas-San Antonio, 25-17, 25-11, 25-9, and Groff echoed Givens' reaction.

"I told my team that was probably the most embarrassing showing I've ever seen in my life," said Groff, who became UTSA's winningest coach Tuesday. "We knew we were the underdog. All I wanted them to do was play with a whole lot of heart and there wasn't a whole lot of heart out there."

The Cardinal (4-2) is in the process of replacing four seniors off the team that swept Hawai'i in last year's regionals, and has three new players out with injury this weekend. It has its lowest ranking since the end of 2005 and stayed with its starters, getting 16 kills from Janet Okogbaa, on 19 swings.

The Roadrunners (3-6) hit zero in the second set and .098 for the match, to Stanford's .554 — with only one hitting error. San Antonio got seven kills apiece from Briana Mason and Kendra Rowland.

NOTES

The Rainbow Wahine play UTSA tonight at 7, with the Cardinal and Wildcats meeting at 5 p.m. Hawai'i takes on Stanford in tomorrow's finale. More than 6,000 tickets have been sold, according to UH. It is encouraging fans to buy tickets early so the walkup crowd does not overwhelm the ticket office Saturday, as it did last week for the Texas match. Lines were so long that night many people left.

The Roadrunners' assistant coach is former UH assistant Howard Wallace.

In just her sixth collegiate match, Kamehameha graduate Caitlin Andrade collected a triple-double. The San Jose State freshman became just the second setter in school history to achieve the rare feat Wednesday, and the eighth Spartan overall. Andrade recorded 32 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills in a three-set loss at Saint Mary's. Freshman Alex Akana, another Kamehameha grad, led San Jose State (0-6) with 11 kills and .550 hitting. Word of Life graduate Chanteal Satele led Saint Mary's (5-1) with 15 kills.