San Jose State was the volleyball pest 10th-ranked Hawai'i could not swat for two games last night, but the Rainbow Wahine ultimately pulled away, 30-25, 30-27, 30-14, to remain unbeaten in the Western Athletic Conference.

The victory came before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,018. Hawai'i (21-4, 15-0 WAC) closes the conference regular season Sunday with a 7 p.m. match against Utah State. The 'Bows play non-conference matches against Loyola Marymount (Nov. 20-21) after next week's WAC Tournament.

As the regular-season champion, UH will be the top seed in Las Cruces, N.M. San Jose State (13-14, 7-9) is seeded sixth and promises to give some higher-seeded team real trouble if it plays the way it did last night.

"San Jose State came out amazing and played an awesome game," said UH senior Juliana Sanders, one of three 'Bows with double-digit kills. "They were on it. They were digging balls, hitting balls, blocking balls. Fantastic."

Playing without the injured Jennifer Senftleben, fourth on the SJSU career kills list, the Spartans matched Hawai'i kill for kill to 23-all in Game 1. In the final nine serves, San Jose could muster just one kill, hit out twice and missed a serve. The Rainbows got points from Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Kari Gregory and Jamie Houston, who also got the only UH stuff of the game on match point.

That came against Colleen Burke, who leads the WAC in hitting percentage, but managed just .231 last night. Nia Freeman was the only SJSU attacker to hit better than that, as Hawai'i out-hit the Spartans .339 to .198. Despite that, the Rainbow Wahine were out-blocked 6-3 and had to grind even harder to win Game 2.

"That might have been San Jose's best two games of the year," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I think they were really fired up. What I think is their best player didn't play. When that type of thing happens other players need to step up and they did.

"They earned most of their points. ... I'd like to look at it as a positive for San Jose and not a negative for us. We should beat that team easier, but we didn't. They really played well."

SJSU went on a 10-2 tear to go up 16-12 in the second. The Spartans held the advantage to 22-19 this time, but Hawai'i scored eight of the last 11 points, with Otineru getting four of her 12 kills and Amber Kaufman thrashing game point after Shoji had called his only timeout of the match.

Kaufman, playing against her hometown team, was a sparkling 8 for 11 on the night and hit .727. Juliana Sanders (11 kills) hit .381 and Houston, who had a match-high 16 kills, hit .364. In Houston's last five matches — all UH sweeps — she is averaging six kills a game and hitting around .370. She is third nationally in kills, at 5 1/2 a game.

The only disappointment was junior captain Tara Hittle, who went without a kill in 11 swings.

"Her arm swing has been erratic and sometimes it's tentative," Shoji said. "Tonight was one of those times."

The second closing surge by Hawai'i seemed to sap the Spartans' spirit. The Rainbows ripped to a 17-5 advantage in Game 3 before Shoji began to clear the bench. It was Hawai'i's 108th consecutive conference victory at home; it has never lost a WAC match in SSC.

UH has also won its last 32 with SJSU, which had half its hitting errors in the final game. After digging everything in sight the first two games — including several balls hit hard enough to hurt — the Spartans managed just five digs in the third. Kamehameha graduate Kristal Tsukano had 12 of SJSU's digs. She was matched by UH freshman libero Liz Ka'aihue. Houston had a match-high 13 digs.

NOTES

KFVE is tentatively planning to broadcast the Rainbows' WAC Tournament matches next week. UH opens at 11:30 a.m. HST Thursday against the winner of that morning's match between No. 9 Louisiana Tech and No. 8 Boise State.

Utah State defeated Nevada in four games last night to move back into third in the WAC, at 10-5. The Wolf Pack finished the regular season 10-6. If both teams finish 10-6, a coin flip will decide the WAC Tournament third seed. Hawai'i is first and New Mexico State second, with Idaho fifth, San Jose State sixth and Fresno State seventh.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.