Fourth-ranked Hawai'i would like its Western Athletic Conference volleyball season to look much like the two sweeps it planted on 25th-ranked Pepperdine this weekend.

Last night, in front of a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,413, the scores were 25-17 in all three sets. The Rainbow Wahine kept finding ways to work through whatever ailed them, just as they had Friday, and never were seriously threatened.

They ended their preseason 9-2, winning their last five and going 6-2 against ranked opponents. Now they face the tough task of improving over the next two-plus months against all their unranked, often overwhelmed, WAC opponents.

"We have to practice hard. The WAC season is not as difficult as our preseason," said Liz Ka'aihue, who averaged more than five digs a set in the two sweeps. "We have to stay disciplined and just get better, not plateau. ... High-intensity practices. We can't go down to a level that's not acceptable."

Easier said than done, as the Rainbow Wahine have found out while winning the last 11 WAC championships. They need to realize practices will often have to be harder and more intense than matches now. There will be teams in the next two months that don't keep coming back like the Waves (7-5), and don't have terrifically talented players like second-ranked Texas, which walloped the Rainbow Wahine, and 10th-ranked Cal, which rode one super-sized All-American to a five-set upset.

That was Hawai'i's last loss and it came two weeks ago. It has won its last five with impressive balance, an ability to shake itself out of slumps and often-inspired defense.

"I thought we did really well for having a tough preseason," said senior captain Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who came within a kill of her third double-double last night. "We learned a lot from each other. Now we know where we stand before we go into postseason.

"I'm not saying ranking-wise, but skill-wise. We need to work on the things now."

Hawai'i scored seven straight in the opening set to break it open and race to a 23-15 advantage against the Waves. Cubi-Otineru had seven of the 'Bows' 16 kills and took twice as many swings as any other hitter.

She would get just two more, the last at 13-7 in the second set. By then, Amber Kaufman was beginning to make her presence felt in the middle. She started the set by serving six straight — the last two aces — to put the 'Bows up 6-1. The Waves never got closer than three the rest of the way and Kaufman ended it, getting her first two blocks in the final seven serves.

Sophomore Kanani Danielson led Hawai'i with 11 kills, but hit just .200, while Stephanie Ferrell added 10, but had eight errors. It was that kind of night against a Pepperdine team that was game — particularly libero Stevi Robinson — but simply couldn't keep up.

Hawai'i was hitting nearly .300 until a dismal final set salvaged by streaks of brilliant defense. It hit just .136 for the set, but had 11 digs on the way to a 7-2 advantage. The 'Bows nearly gave it all away until Cubi-Otineru served five in a row, including two aces, to put her team up 21-14.

The Rainbows beat the Waves in every statistical category and said they felt "a lot more energy" than a night earlier. That won't be enough over the next two months. They need to get better — much better — before the NCAA Tournament. That is what the WAC is all about now.

"I think we accomplished what we wanted to do in the preseason," said UH coach Dave Shoji, who believes the only one his team let get away was the Cal match. "We established a lineup, established some substitution patterns. We know what we have to work on. We know when we play what's our game, it's pretty darn good."

NOTES

The 'Bows open their Western Athletic Conference season by hosting Boise State Thursday and Idaho Sunday. Hawai'i's first road trip takes it to Louisiana Tech (Oct. 1) and New Mexico State (Oct. 3). ... UH coach Dave Shoji is 993-175-1 in his 35th season. If the Rainbow Wahine win out, he would hit No. 1,000 on Oct. 14 at home against LaTech. ... Pepperdine now trails the series with UH 26-3, and has lost the last nine. ... Seventh-ranked UCLA lost for the second straight night, getting swept by Long Beach State. Sixth-ranked Michigan also was swept, by unranked Oregon State.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043

CORRECTION

Th following text was omitted from coverage of Friday's match in yesterday's Advertiser:

"I was just disappointed in my team not competing tonight. Kinda blown away actually," said Pepperdine coach Nina Matthies. "Because we've been competing really well and I'm a little disappointed in not really competing until Game 3. Then we just started playing volleyball and not worrying about anything."

The Waves woke after calling their second timeout, and collected 13 of the final 21 points in Set 1, including a 5-0 run on Stevi Robinson's serve.

The 'Bows' first hitting error came at 20-9. There would be three more before the set was over and no more blocks.

They weathered another breakdown in Set 2, when another five-point Pepperdine run was ignited by three straight UH hitting errors. The Waves got two of their own kills to go ahead 8-5 before the 'Bows battled back.

They tied it at 9 on Stephanie Brandt's ace and pulled ahead on Hewitt's block. The freshman would get two more as Hawai'i scored four in a row to pull ahead 21-14 and ease in.