RENO, Nev. — As cold as it was here last night, hell didn't freeze over. Until that happens, Hawai'i might never lose a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match, let alone the championship.

The eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine plowed through the conclusion of their seventh straight perfect conference season by sweeping second-seeded Utah State, 30-25, 30-27, 30-25. The WAC Tournament final was played before 721 predominantly green-clad fans at Lawlor Events Center.

Hawai'i's WAC numbers are mind-boggling. It has won eight consecutive WAC championships, its last 125 matches against conference opponents and is 22-2 in this tournament, the only losses coming against Brigham Young in the first two championship matches.

Now, those numbers don't matter. All the Rainbow Wahine (25-6) want is to extend their 19-match winning streak to 25 and capture their fifth national championship. They earned the WAC's automatic NCAA Tournament berth last night. The 64-team field will be announced at 9:30 a.m. HST today on ESPN News.

That might have overshadowed what happened here the past three days. The Rainbow Wahine were efficient, even ruthless at times. But they never really knocked out teams when they had them on the ropes — the way they will have to in the losers-out NCAA Tournament.

"Now that it's done I would say that you could have almost predicted that because it's a little hard to get emotional in these games," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We really didn't have a lot to play for other than the seeding thing. I don't think that's great motivation for the players.

"I don't think they felt threatened, like they could lose. That's kind of a good attitude, but it's not one where we're going to blow people out. I don't know if I wanted us to be real high emotionally this week. We need to be emotional next week. You just can't be like that week after week after week."

The championship question is, can Hawai'i turn it on in the next three weeks?

"I think we can," Shoji insisted. "We have that type of team. We've got players who really fire up and I think they're just waiting."

Hawai'i was just emotional enough to finish off Utah State (21-10) last night. Victoria Prince earned her second tournament MVP honor in as many years with 11 kills, .476 hitting and more than half (5) the team's blocks. Freshman Jamie Houston started again for Sarah Mason, who is recovering from an ankle injury, and launched 17 kills.

They were all the offense in Game 1, which Hawai'i somehow won despite getting out-killed (21-12), out-hit (.222 to .190), and out-dug (21-17).

What the 'Bows did do well was keep the ball in. They forced the Aggies to earn all but one of their points, then outscored them 7-2 to end the game, taking advantage of the last of five USU serving errors and two Susie Boogaard aces.

"They were efficient," Utah State coach Burt Fuller said. "They were beating us at the service line. In Games 1 and 3, we out-hit them. The stats show a very, very close match. I didn't feel the match was that close because every time we'd get on a run they would answer. We just couldn't seem to get rolling."

Hawai'i looked like it would knock Utah State out early in Game 2, ripping to an 11-4 lead behind Tara Hittle's hitting and Ashley Watanabe's serving.

But the 'Bows went on a mid-game walkabout. Their passing disappeared and USU's Beth Hodge re-appeared, drilling half her team's 18 kills. The Aggies scored seven straight to tie it at 16. Ultimately, the 'Bows hit .450, but had to sweat it out until the end.

Hawai'i scored nine of the first 12 points in the final game. Utah State got within two, but never seriously challenged. That was pretty much the story of the match, and tournament week.

"I never felt like we were losing control," Hittle said. "Sometimes we get a little bit relaxed. When that happens we keep pushing, but it just means our passing goes out the window and that's when we fall apart a little bit. But we have good enough players that we're able to regain our focus and get right back on track. I never felt like we were in danger."

Hawai'i knows it is in its 24th NCAA Tournament, it just doesn't know where it will satart.

The possibilities for its NCAA sub-regional this week are many, according to Shoji. He believes his team could go to "San Diego, L.A., Northern California, Utah, Colorado, Arizona ... there are a bunch of places where there are going to be two or three teams that qualify.

"We're hoping it's in the Western part of the nation rather than the East. ... Or they could send three teams to Hawai'i. We will be glad to host."

NOTES

The all-tournament team was headed by MVP Victoria Prince (UH). Other members were: Tara Hittle (UH), Carolyn Forbush (USU), Tristin Johnson (Nevada), Jamie Houston (UH), Cameron Flunder (Boise), Kim Oguh (NMSU), Ambra Hayes (LaTech), Zuzana Cernianska (USU), Jackie Choi (NMSU), Salaia Salave'a (Nevada) and Kanoe Kamana'o (UH).

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.