The 'Bows' 28-30, 30-20, 30-28, 30-27 victory in the 13th annual Waikiki Beach Marriott Volleyball Challenge gave them their 11th Challenge championship and a much more optimistic outlook headng into the conference season. The first two weeks of their season ended with ugly losses; this one closed with gritty victories over very good teams.

Hawai'i ran its record to 6-3 before 4,619 at Stan Sheriff Center. It was led by Jamie Houston, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, who had a match-high 26 kills.

In the opener, Wichita State (6-3) became the third team to sweep Eastern Washington (1-8) this weekend. The scores were 30-21, 30-18, 30-20, with the Shockers out-hitting the Eagles by nearly 300 points (.306-.034). WSU libero Kelly Broussard, who tied a Challenge record Friday with 34 digs, had 18 last night.

Santa Clara, with Brittany Lowe carving up the 'Bow block, controlled Game 1 for all but a few minutes. The Rainbows' 12-6 surge put them up, 21-20, but the Broncos(6-3) scored the next five — on a kill and four UH errors. They held on through a desperate Hawai'i rally, with three of Houston's eight first-game kills coming as the Broncos sat at 29.

Finally, after spectacular digs by Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Liz Ka'aihue, Santa Clara came up with the winning block.

The Broncos' edge lasted only as long as it took Jayme Lee to serve six straight points in Game 2. Hawai'i got kills from Houston, Otineru and sophomore Amber Kaufman — who started in the middle for the first time in her career — during the run, along with a stuff from Kaufman and Stephanie Brandt and two Santa Clara miscues.

The Broncos, a final-four team two years ago, had no answer after that. Hawai'i out-hit them .296-.106, with Kaufman (5 kills) and Tara Hittle (4) going a combined 9-for-15 to take the pressure off Houston and Otineru.

From there, kills were hard to come by as both teams groveled through Game 3 with great defense. No one led by two until the teams traded three-point runs into the 20's.

After Lowe's two aces tied it at 22, the 'Bows went on two of those runs to pull ahead 28-23. The Broncos scored the next three, but Otineru's 11th kill got UH to game point. Santa Clara erased it twice before Otineru's 12th kill ended it.

The teams traded big blows and bunches of digs in Game 4, which was tied 16 times. The last came at 27. Hittle blasted her ninth kill and, after a remarkable dig by freshman Liz Ka'aihue, the Broncos hit out.  

All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding: Jamie Houston (Hawai'i)