The University of Hawai'i volleyball team's nine-day road trip came to a disappointing end with last night's 30-22, 30-23, 30-25 loss to Stanford in the Burnham Pavilion.

"We got our okoles whumped," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

In Wednesday's match, the Warriors were betrayed by erratic serving in losing in five games. Last night, nothing worked.

"It's hard to quantify," Wilton said. "(Wednesday) night, it was anybody's match. We were feeling like we gave it away. One would think we would come out highly motivated (last night). Maybe we were, but it didn't show. We were flat. We had no spark."

Wilton added: "They were a step quicker, and we were several steps slower."

The Warriors had no answer for opposite attacker Evan Romero, who slammed 20 kills in 26 swings and hit an astonishing .692.

"We couldn't stop Romero," said Wilton, noting the 6-foot-6 sophomore launched most of his spikes off back sets. "He hit over and around us. He's a big, physical player. He jumps well."

Punahou School graduate Spencer McLachlin buried 11 kills, and 'Iolani School's Kawika Shoji served two aces for the Cardinal.

The Warriors tried several lineup tactics.

Matt Rawson, who had been displaced in the lineup the past few weeks, started in the middle. But he struggled offensively, and Keali'i Frank started in Game 3. But Rawson was summoned after Steven Grgas was assessed a yellow card for arguing with the referee. It was Grgas' second yellow card of the road trip.

"He apologized," Wilton said. "Everything is fine."

In Game 3, Nemanja Komar replaced outside hitter Jim Clar, and Nejc Zemljak took over for setter Sean Carney.

Wednesday night, Clar slammed a career-high 29 kills in five games. Last night, he had four kills in two games.

Despite the problems, Wilton said he is not ready to stir the lineup.

"I don't know if shuffling will make it right," he said. "One stumble does not equate to a shuffle. What we didn't like - as players and as coaches - is we were flat. I'm going to take it day by day. That's good advice for all of us in life. We're trying to get a little better each day. You can liken it to climbing a mountain. When it's really steep, I suppose you'll stumble a bit. We did. It'll be a real character check."

The Warriors are scheduled to depart from Sacramento this morning.

"We'll see if we still remember Hawai'i," Wilton said. "It seems like it was three months ago when we left. I'm not sure, but I thought Hugh Yoshida was the AD when we left."

But Wilton said the duration of the trip, which opened with a two-match sweep of Pacific, did not factor in last night's play.

Road fatigue "does not exist for us," Wilton said. "That is not an option."

Joshua Walker, a second-year freshman, led the Warriors with 17 kills.

No other Warrior had more than six kills.

The Warriors are scheduled to play Loyola Chicago in non-conference matches next week in the Stan Sheriff Center.