After making sweeping statements on the opponent's court in the regular season, top-seeded New Mexico State and second-seeded Hawai'i took turns self-destructing in yesterday's Western Athletic Conference Tournament final. Then the sixth-ranked Rainbow Wahine got tired of messing around.

After giving away the second set and digging a 2-6 hole in the third, the 'Bows blew to their 11th straight WAC volleyball championship, beating the Aggies, 25-19, 25-27, 25-18, 25-9.

The final at Stan Sheriff Center was watched by 4,855, who screamed, then squirmed and finally rose in raucous celebration as UH stretched its WAC Tournament winning streak to a remarkable 27.

"I think it was our best match of the year," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Our players really did a nice job following the game plan and bothered the New Mexico State players. ... It was really beautiful the way our players actually followed the instructions."

Hawai'i (26-3) plays nonconference matches against Cal Poly Wednesday and Friday. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday. In the latest NCAA power ranking, Hawai'i is No. 16, NMSU No. 35 and Cal Poly No. 51 — and playing for its postseason life this week.

The Aggies (23-8) should have no problem getting into their fifth NCAA Tournament in six seasons. They came into yesterday's final on a 15-match winning streak and all but one of their losses is against teams now ranked in the Top 25.

Their sweep of Hawai'i here on Oct. 12 — two weeks after getting swept by the 'Bows in Las Cruces, N.M. — was their first upset of a top-10 team in history. They paid a price for that place in history yesterday.

"We all had been waiting for this night even though we've tried to downplay it," Shoji said. "We've had a lot of time since we last played them to work on our game. I think our players did a nice job waiting and being patient and working hard and taking care of business with the other teams in the WAC. It was a long wait, but it was worth it because our players really responded."

The Aggies have now lost to UH in the last three tournament championships, and Hawai'i senior Jamie Houston has been Most Outstanding Player every year. Houston (22 kills, 11 digs) and Aneli Cubi-Otineru (12 kills, 10 digs) both had their fifth double-double of the season. Senior libero Tara Hittle out-dug NMSU senior Krystal Torres — the WAC's best ballhandler — 16 to 12.

Middles Amber Kaufman and Nickie Thomas anchored enough of a block that the 'Bows' biggest weakness out-stuffed the Aggies, one of the country's finest blocking teams, 11 to 10.

"We made their block look good," NMSU coach Mike Jordan said. "We didn't pass real well so we were a lot more predictable. ... When you look at the numbers — you take their 11 blocks away from our 31 attack errors and that's 20 balls we hit into the net or out of bounds and another 10 from the service line. That's 30, just too many."

"Backup" Stephanie Brandt, who was recruited by the Aggies, set Hawai'i to a .229 hitting percentage — more than 200 points higher than its program-worst .023 in the NMSU loss. It came in sparkling relief of injured Dani Mafua, and Brandt was named to the all-tournament team a second straight year.

"I don't think everybody has a backup setter who set for a whole year and has been a starter for a whole year," Shoji said. "We knew we were fortunate going in. No matter which setter was in we had a great backup setter."

But it was WAC Freshman of the Year Kanani Danielson who played the wild card. The three-time Hawai'i High School Player of the Year out of Kamehameha was hitting negative after two sets and didn't even look like she wanted the ball.

Then she overcame one of the toughest, most sophisticated challenges in sports: She turned herself around in the middle of the match, going from tentative and tipping everything at the net to soaring and slamming and shutting the door on the Aggies, who admittedly moved their block away from her after the first two sets.

"She's a young player," Shoji said. "She'll revert back to what she did in high school. That's not usually a shot that's going to work on this level. She's a tough kid. The great thing about it was it didn't affect her back row. She was playing tough. Some players are bothered by the inability to not put a ball down, it carries around to the back row. With her, you don't even know she's having a bad night."

The 'Bows were brilliant in the opening set, with Houston lifting them to an early advantage and UH refusing to relent. It held a 15-10 advantage at the first break, with Houston going 4 for 6 with two stuffs and one acrobatic save where she rolled to her feet and killed the ensuing set going the other direction.

The Aggies couldn't put three points together until it was too late — down 21-14 — and Houston's sixth kill slammed off the block and went over the endline on the UH side for set point.

The Rainbow Wahine rolled with that momentum to an 11-5 advantage in the second set and suddenly hit the wall — NMSU's block and their own "Second-Set Deficit Syndrome." The Aggies went on a 10-2 run without having to do much as the 'Bows hit into the block and began to look lost.

New Mexico State pushed its advantage to 19-16 and the set was tied from 20 to 24, with Houston's 13th kill holding off the first set point. Danielson blocked Whitney Woods' tip to give Hawai'i set point, but Woods erased that with another tip that went down.

The Aggies won when Danielson touched the net in the process of burying an overset, then pushed set point into the antenna. Hawai'i finished the set hitting zero — 12 kills, 12 errors — while NMSU won despite an .047 attack percentage.

The 'Bows slid straight into the third set, falling behind 6-2, before Danielson rallied and brought her teammates with her. Hawai'i caught NMSU at 14, with Danielson contributing two emphatic kills and two more emphatic stuffs.

"Our players hung in there," Shoji said. "I give them all the credit because at that point there is nothing you can say. You give them some tactical thing but it's got to come from within and it did."

Hawai'i had found its rhythm again, and outscored the Aggies 15-5 to go up a set. Cubi-Otineru buried the 23rd point and danced toward the bench, then helped Kaufman stuff Krista Altermatt and danced some more.

A triple block of all-WAC middle Amber Simpson, who hit almost 300 points below her average, ended that set and, pretty much, the Aggies. The Rainbows took a 10-1 lead on the serves of Brandt and Kaufman in the fourth set. NMSU called its final timeout down 14-3 and hitting negative .150.

"We hesitated in some long rallies, watched a couple balls hit the floor, missed a couple late serves and pretty much handed them Game 3," Jordan said. "And they kicked our tail in Game 4."

NOTES

Hawai'i set a tournament attendance record, drawing 13,827 (tickets sold) over the three days. That's 273 more than the 1998 tournament in Las Vegas, which was a four-day tournament with 12 teams — and could be the site of future WAC volleyball tournaments.

The record was set despite the conference having to change the final to Sunday because it scheduled the Idaho-Hawai'i football game Saturday (after the tournament was already on the schedule) and Hawai'i did not want to play the championship the same day as the football game. The conference reimbursed visiting teams for the extra day here.

The Rainbow Wahine usually draw anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 more on Saturday than Sunday.

Hosting for the first time meant a lot to Hawai'i. "It's all about not having to get on that plane tomorrow," Shoji said. "We'll be home for 2 1/2 weeks before the playoffs and that's huge for our preparation."