LOUISVILLE, Ky. — By any volleyball definition, Tennessee State was no passing fancy.

The unheralded Tigers proved they could play with ninth-ranked Hawai'i for 20 minutes last night in the first round of their first NCAA Championship. But once the Rainbow Wahine gritted out a first-game win, TSU's passing disintegrated and the 'Bows blew by them, 30-26, 30-14, 30-17, to advance to tonight's subregional final against Middle Tennessee.

The Blue Raiders (34-2) ended 24th-ranked Louisville's season for the second straight year, 30-28, 18-30, 30-23, 27-30, 15-12, in last night's other first-round match. It lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes and was watched by 1,321 at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

The final begins at 2 p.m. HST today and will be broadcast live on 1420 AM. The winner of this subregional advances to the Penn State regional next weekend. The 'Bows are 13-0 in second-round matches since the tournament expanded beyond 32 teams in 1993.

Hawai'i (27-5), seeded 11th in the postseason, played as if it was nearly 5,000 miles from home in the beginning. It was, in front of a crowd of about 100 wearing warm clothes inside a huge, extremely airy exhibition hall with temporary bleachers for 2,096.

The one tape of Tennessee State UH received showed a team that liked to set high and outside. Tiger setter Candace Saleaumua came out firing low sets to her hitters across every inch of the net — "We got confused a few times and didn't know where they were coming from," UH coach Dave Shoji admitted, "and they played well" — while libero Melissa Silva took nearly every serve and passed to perfection.

Was the entire first game a matter of Shoji having the wrong game plan?

"No, it was us, we lost focus," said UH junior Jamie Houston, who had a match-high 18 kills.

Then she grinned. "But it was mostly Dave."

The teams groveled through 18 ties in an opening game that was an offensive struggle for both. Hawai'i won by hitting .428 the last half of the game and scoring seven of the final 10 points — senior Juliana Sanders getting half her six Game-1 kills during the late surge. The Tigers hit just .220, with Christian Lowe getting most of the swings (12) but making five of the team's seven hitting errors.

"We were fighting for Game 1," Shoji said. "We were struggling. They ran their offense and we had a hard time stopping them. I was hoping that we could make a few plays, either blocking or defending them. We tried to serve tough and serve the right people and it wasn't happening."

In contrast, TSU knew it had the "opportunity of a lifetime."

"We were excited," said TSU senior Endia Oliver, the country's second-best blocker who ended her career with two stuffs. "We thought we were going to take that game. We were up, we were talking. Everyone was worrying about their job instead of other people's. Coach gave us a scouting report and we took care of what we needed to do. But after that it just went downhill."

When Game 1 was over, it was as if Tennessee State (20-14) never came back out. It ended its historical season by winning nine of the last 10 to capture the Ohio Valley Conference championship and earn a drive up I-65 from Nashville to its first postseason. But after a tense first game, the Rainbow Wahine smothered TSU, with serving taking away its final breath.

The Tigers, having problems of their own against a team that hit higher and harder than what they saw all season, could no longer cope. Hawai'i finally stopped serving Silva and no other TSU passer was nearly as dependable. UH had a season-high 10 aces in the season-low 79-minute match, three from Stephanie Brandt and two apiece from Amber Kaufman, Houston and Aneli Cubi-Otineru.

Sanders hit .714 with 11 kills and the four UH middles hit .621. The 'Bows also out-dug TSU 40-20 — 27-9 in the last two games — and out-blocked it 7-4.

"I would say it didn't go as planned," said TSU coach Kathy Roulhac. "I told the girls we were the underdogs coming in, but we didn't think that we were the underdogs because we watched video of Hawai'i. Yes they were ranked very high in the country, but we just felt like we were the underdog that went unnoticed. So we had a great opportunity to come in and surprise everybody, and win. And that's what we came out to do.

"I think we had that thought for the first 30 points, but after that Hawai'i stepped it up and started serving a little tougher. Our kids got a little nervous."

For sure, the Rainbow Wahine were a quick study. They went on a remarkable 14-1 run to burst into a 22-9 lead in Game 2. It was never close again. Hawai'i had five kills and two stuffs in the streak, while the Tigers provided three more hitting errors, three violations and a shank.

TSU out-blocked UH 4-2 in Game 1, but went stuff-less the rest of the match. Hawai'i hit .524 in Game 2, while the Tigers were in negative numbers. Houston had eight of her team's 14 kills. It got so bad, TSU turned Saleaumua into a passer.

Nothing helped. The Rainbows also ripped through Game 3, hitting .452 and playing everyone. Freshman Amanda Simmons got match point.

NOTES

After Middle Tennessee won in five at Louisville again in the NCAA's first round, the Cardinals (22-8) were unanimous in their appraisal of the Blue Raiders, who have won their last 13.

"That's the type of team you never want to see in the postseason," Louisville coach Leonid Yelen said.

Added sophomore Samantha Dabbs: "That offense is something you really don't want to go up against ever."

What MT lacks in size it makes up for with quickness and jumping ability, beating blockers to the ball. Five Blue Raiders touch over 10 feet and all five had double-digit kills last night.

Sun Belt Player of the Year Ashley Adams was stuffed into .056 hitting by the country's best blocking team and first-team all-conference player Ashley Asberry, a 5-foot-9 middle blocker, barely hit .200. But underclassmen Ashley Mead (19 kills), Izabela Kozon (15) and Sasha McGlothin (11) shredded the Louisville block.

The Blue Raiders, who are seventh in the country in blocking despite their size, think they will match up just as well with Hawai'i tonight.

"Offensively they are similar to Louisville and they're not as big as Louisville is," MT coach Matt Peck said. "They have tremendous ball control and a tremendous outside hitter in Jamie Houston, who is from 90 miles down the road from Murfreesboro.

"I think anything goes tomorrow. We have a comparative score. We beat Oregon State the week after they beat Hawai'i. I told the players that means nothing now. ... The team that stays in their system and is able to break down the other team is going to Penn State."

Makena Naho'oikaika and Precious Salazar from Kamehameha-Hawai'i both played for TSU last night with Salazar getting a kill and Naho'oikaika a dig.

Hawai'i has been in all but one of the 27 NCAA Tournaments. It has reached regionals the last nine years.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.