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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 9:40 p.m., Sunday, August 26, 2007

Oregon State sweeps past Rainbow Wahine

By ANN MILLER
Advertiser Staff Writer

Despite all the problems, there were enough flashes of potential the first two nights of this volleyball season to give Hawai'i hope. There was nothing positive about tonight's performance by the Rainbow Wahine.

The 10th-ranked 'Bows, in danger of dropping out of the poll for the first time in 15 years, were blown out by Oregon State, a team that went oh-for-the-Pac-10 last year. The scores were 33-31, 30-21, 30-26 on the final night of the ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

But for two points Saturday against Colorado State, Hawai'i could be 0-3 today.

"Unfortunately the three teams coming in next week are probably better than these three," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We've got to improve quite a bit in three-four days or the outcome is going to be the same. The coaching staff has to come up with something and the players have to buy into it. Attitudes have to be good.

"I'd like to have a set lineup. We're all over the place now. That's the reason we have inconsistency, because I pull people and change the lineup and change alignment. It might be better just to have six players, but fortunately we have talent through the squad. I've got to find a lineup and go with it."

The Rainbows were so shockingly bad they didn't even show up for the trophy presentation, leaving it to about 100 fans — from a crowd of 4,196 — to honor the giddy Beavers, the last team left in town.

Earlier, Michigan won the tournament championship by beating CSU, 25-30, 30-24, 30-25, 30-22. The Wolverines won all three tournament matches behind freshman setter Lexi Zimmerman and middles Lyndsay Miller and Beth Karpiak, who combined to average seven kills a game and hit nearly .400.