Seventh-ranked Hawai‘i blessed its new volleyball floor then bashed Western Michigan tonight in its season-opening Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational . A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,461 watched the Rainbow Wahine roll over the Broncos, who return every starter from last year’s Sweet 16 team.

The scores were 25-21, 25-16, 25-14.
Kanani Danielson, a third-team All-American as a freshman, had a sizzling start to her sophomore season. She blasted16 kills and added eight digs and five stuffs, while hitting .467. Danielson’s first hitting error came deep into the third set.
Senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru was also on an opening night roll with nine kills in 15 error-free swings, five aces and a match-high 14 digs.
Not that any of the Rainbow Wahine were struggling. They hit .365 for the match, going nearly two full sets without an error in a remarkably polished debut. Michelle Moore, one of four senior starters, led WMU with 10 kills.
Hawai‘i served the Broncos silly early, with Amber Kaufman and Cubi-Otineru slamming five aces in the first six serves to give the ‘Bows a 7-3 advantage. The gap grew larger Kaufman’s second time around, with Cubi-Otineru drilling two kills, Stephanie Ferrell another — after a brilliant dig — and freshman Brittany Hewitt and Cubi-Otineru getting UH’s only stuff to make it 17-8.
WMU called its final timeout, took a breath, and couldn’t catch up the rest of the night.
Ferrell and Danielson each had four kills in the first set, Danielson in just five swings. She added eight more in the second, when Cubi-Otineru was a smooth 5-for-6 and the Rainbow Wahine were a spectacular 18 for 36, without an error.
Western Michigan was doing everything right and simply couldn’t keep up. The ‘Bows took their first lead in the second set at 9-8 and pulled away when the Broncos could do nothing to stop them. Hawai‘i scored the final six points with Cubi-Otineru serving, Danielson and Hewitt hitting and every Hawai‘i player digging pretty much everything.
In the final set UH started subbing the midst of a 9-0 run that made it 15-4 — and a short night.
In the opener, ninth-ranked UCLA blitzed 25th-ranked Santa Clara, 25-21, 25-16, 25-18.
Bruin junior Dicey McGraw was error-free until the final set and led all hitters with 12 kills and .500 hitting. Amanda Gil, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, added seven kills on .545 hitting. Santa Clara got eight kills from Lindsy Davigeadono — last year’s setter.
“We were very uncomfortable out there,” said Broncos’ coach Jon Wallace. “We’re a very young group and we did not look good. We couldn’t settle down. … They didn’t even give us a chance to see if we were competitive.”

NOTES

In opening-night upsets, third-ranked Nebraska was swept by 16th-ranked Michigan in Omaha. The Huskers hadn’t been swept since 2007. Pepperdine, which plays here in three weeks, swept 24th-ranked Colorado State. UC Irvine surprised sixth-ranked Cal, which plays here next week. New Mexico State of the WAC held off Southern Methodist 16-14 in the fifth, and fifth-ranked Stanford needed five to hold off LSU, but 12th-ranked USC lost to Michigan State in five.