Overtime served the Badgers well. They won the night's most entertaining game, 32-30, against five UH reserves in the fourth. Wisconsin began Game 5 with five starters — who played all five games — to Hawai'i's three. After a tired start, the Badgers won 15-11, scoring four of the final five points.

The Rainbow Wahine, who finished last year 27-7 and ranked ninth, got six kills in each of the first three games from freshman Jamie Houston. Her .387 percentage helped the 'Bows out-hit Wisconsin by 200 points (.324 to .123) in the official/unoffical match.

Wisconsin, 26-7 and No. 10 last year, got 31 of its 37 kills in the first three games from hitters Maria Carlini (12), Amy Bladow (10) and Audra Jeffers (9). None hit better than .192.

Hawai'i took over Game 1 when All-American setter Kanoe Kamana'o served through a 5-0 run to give UH a 15-9 cushion. Soon after, Tara Hittle was serving in the midst of a 6-0 Rainbow run that made it 24-14.

In between, Hittle provided comic relief by running out of her shoe during a spike approach. Unfortunately for Hawai'i, Kamana'o was setting Hittle. Hittle fell softly to the floor, followed by the ball.

The high point in humor in Game 2 came when Wisconson freshman Audra Jeffers, invited to play on the U.S. national A2 team, came up a few feet short of the net with a serve. Sarah Mason served the next four, with freshman Nickie Thomas stuffing two, to give the Rainbow Wahine a 9-4 advantage. Kamana'o would be on the endline for another 5-0 surge that made it 19-8.

For the rest of the game, the Badgers looked like they had only been together since Thursday and the 'Bows since Monday, which was all true. The level of play was far short of the teams' last meeting, which Wisconsin won, 21-19 in the fifth, at a 2004 NCAA regional.