Hawai'i will try to work its way to volleyball health this week against a Waikiki Beach Marriott Challenge field that just finished knocking a team out of the rankings and finding frustration against Western Athletic Conference opponents.

Tenth-ranked UCLA's frustration was all but forgotten in a frantic finish at Nevada Saturday. Down 14-9 in the fifth game, the Bruins (3-0) scored the final seven points to beat last year's WAC runner-up.

UCLA, which moved up three places in this week's CSTV/AVCA Top 25, opens the Challenge tomorrow against Cal State Northridge. The seventh-ranked Rainbow Wahine, who slid back three slots, face Cincinnati in the late match.

The Bearcats (1-2) are coming off losses to WAC members Tulsa and New Mexico State. They have three starters back from a 22-11 team, but lost two-time Conference USA Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American Julie DuPont. Senior Maria Pongonis leads the team at nearly five kills a game.

Cincinnati is coached by Reed Sunahara, a multi-sport athlete for Hilo High in the early 1980s who went on to an All-America volleyball career at UCLA. Sunahara has taken the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament four of his five seasons, and won at least 21 matches each year.

Northridge (2-4) has been to the past two NCAA Tournaments, but lost seven seniors and all its starters from last season. Half the Matadors' first six matches have gone the distance, with CSUN winning two, including Saturday's upset of then-No. 25 Pepperdine.

The Matadors, who went to the past two NCAA Tournaments, are also missing an honorable mention All-American, in Jen Ryan. Coach Jeff Stork, a three-time Olympian, has 11 new players, which led Big West coaches to pick the Matadors seventh this season.

UCLA has been picked to finish fifth in the Pac-10. It returns half its starting lineup from last year's 21-11 team, which reached the regional finals. The Bruins lost five seniors, including second-team All-American Chrissie Zartman, the only player to wear a libero jersey for UCLA before this season.

Two of the returning starters, juniors Colby Lyman and Nana Meriwether, were named to the all-tournament team last weekend in Reno. Meriwether, the Pac-10 blocking leader a year ago, leads the Bruins in hitting (3.45 kills, .397 percentage) and blocking (1.45 per game).

UCLA's Andy Banachowski is 13 victories short of becoming the first women's coach with 1,000 victories. His record is 987-255 in his 39th year.

Hawai'i's Dave Shoji is one of the few close to Banachowski, at 872-153. Shoji has spent most of his 31st season dreaming up new lineups after losing three starting hitters the past three weeks.

He hopes Tara Hittle (sprained ankle) and Alicia Arnott (flu-like symptoms) will be available for all six rotations this week. Sarah Mason also could see limited action for the first time since spraining her ankle in the season opener.

Between the injuries and a schedule that started with four matches against top-10 teams, the Rainbow Wahine (2-3) are off to their worst start in four years. Bright spots have been a sweep of then-No. 7 (now 8) Southern California, taking two games off No. 4 Penn State and the play of freshman Jamie Houston.

"She's going to be phenomenal," Western Michigan coach Colleen Munson said of Houston. "She is an unbelievable athlete who just keeps getting better. We saw her improve each match. She's hitting the hard, heavy ball more consistently. When she strings along four or five games it's going to be pretty impressive."

Consistency was Houston's most compelling weakness when she was forced to start last week. But her learning curve, as associate coach Charlie Wade says, "is vertical." Houston had 10 kills and nine errors the first night, and said the hardest part was "trying to keep my head in the game."

She buried 23 kills with seven errors against PSU, and went 22 and five Sunday.

"Jamie Houston was nearly unstoppable early in the match, and she's not going to just do that to us, she's going to do that to a lot of teams," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "She's a terrific talent. She touches well over 10 feet. It's not like we don't have a good-sized block but she was rendering the block useless at times."

Shoji now calls Houston a starter, with his more experienced hitters in line behind her. He sees her struggling on the off plays and knows she needs more shots. But ...

"When the pass is good and the tempo is right she's banging the ball and is definitely what we like as a terminator out there," Shoji says. "It's just the other parts of her game that are not real natural yet."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.