Last time Hawai'i played at Utah State it was the bad-news, good-news, bad-news volleyball story of the Rainbow Wahine's memorable 2004 season.

The Rainbows showed up at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan last November unbeaten, with a day-old No. 1 ranking and coming off a brilliant Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The Aggies were 9-17, had lost five starters to injury and could barely draw a crowd in their final match.

Utah State bashed the 'Bows in Game 1 and continued to make them look bad in Game 2.

Hawai'i, clearly out of energy and emotion after two exhausting weeks, desperately rallied for a five-game win, then swept 19th-ranked Utah the following night to keep its perfect record intact going into the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Committee was clearly unimpressed. The following Sunday it sent the Rainbow Wahine to chilly Colorado for the first round of an NCAA Tournament appearance that ultimately ended at a frigid Green Bay, Wis., regional.

Tonight (4 p.m. Hawai'i time) ninth-ranked Hawai'i (18-6, 12-0 WAC) will try to clinch its 10th consecutive WAC regular-season championship against the second-place Aggies (17-9, 9-3).

Utah State has won its last four since being swept in Honolulu. Last year's grueling match, played 3,000 miles northeast and 4,417 feet up from Manoa, is still fresh on players' minds.

"We didn't play well up there in Logan last year," said UH coach Dave Shoji, who missed the match because of his father's funeral. "It's incentive for both teams. They think they can beat us and our team says no way. It's going to be interesting."

UH left on its final regular-season road trip with 12-match and 30-game winning streaks. It has won its last 118 against WAC opponents and 37 straight in opponent's gyms.

Those streaks were similar a year ago. They count for nothing. Everybody who was in Logan last year remembers the long, cold bus ride up from Salt Lake City before the match and the chill the Aggies sent up Hawai'i's spine once it got there.

Kari Gregory, who collected 11 blocks in a reserve role, recalls "the team pulling together and people stepping up at the right times."

Sophomore Tara Hittle's memories aren't so upbeat.

"I remember last time in Logan I didn't like it," Hittle said. "We were on our heels, we let things happen. It's going to be different this time."

Utah State has been saying that for 24 years. These teams have a history that started in 1978. The Aggies were the AIAW champions that year, and fell in five to the Rainbow Wahine in the 1979 national final. Hawai'i now leads the series 27-7, with Utah State's last win coming Nov. 12, 1981, in Logan.

Zuzana Cernianska, a Utah State senior from Prague, leads the WAC and is among the top 30 nationally in kills, averaging 4.68 a game. She had 13 in Honolulu, but hit just .125 as the 'Bows stifled the Aggie outsides into sub-.100 hitting. UH All-America middle blocker Victoria Prince missed that match with stomach flu.

NOTES

Tonight's match will be broadcast live, beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m., on Sports Radio (1420 AM). Saturday's match at San Jose State, which starts at 5 p.m., will not be broadcast because of a conflict with UH football coverage.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.