Tenth-ranked Hawai'i turned back time last night, mounting a breathtaking rally to overcome ninth-ranked Washington and win the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

Before the largest crowd of the season, the 'Bows (7-2) took everything the Huskies could hand out and served up even more in a 20-25, 27-29, 26-24, 25-14, 16-14 volleyball victory that defied imagination and recent history.

In front of 5,918 at Stan Sheriff Center, a Hawai'i team that had experienced almost total frustration against top-10 opponents the past two-plus seasons (1-8) found total satisfaction with a comeback based on passing and serving — the two things that have let them down so often the past few years.

Junior Amber Kaufman launched a remarkable 11 aces against the Huskies, who came to Hawai'i ranked second nationally in serving but finished with just three last night. Washington also came to town with just four reception errors, and had 12 last night.

"My theory is they don't pass any float serves in practice," Kaufman said, grinning. "All they do is pass jump serves. So when they get a slightly higher than average jump float then they can't handle it."

UW (7-1) hadn't even been challenged its first seven matches, sweeping them all and only allowing as many as 20 points twice.

That changed, almost imperceptibly, in the midst of a Hawai'i run at the end of Set 2. The Rainbows realized their promise in the third, made the Huskies look horrible in the fourth, then blew past them one last time in the decisive fifth.

That tiebreaking set was tied nine times. Washington pulled ahead 12-10 behind Kindra Carlson, who nearly took Hawai'i down by herself with 22 kills, two aces and seven stuffs. But Hawai'i wasn't going to let this one go. Jamie Houston, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, drilled her 25th kill and Kaufman's final ace tied it.

After a Kaufman dig, Houston put the 'Bows at match point with another kill. The Huskies staved this one off, but Houston's 27th kill gave Hawai'i another chance and freshman Kanani Herring drilled the ball into the floor — her 21st kill — to set off a raucous celebration.

"This is sweet because they definitely are one of the elite programs in the country," said UH coach Dave Shoji of the 2005 NCAA champion. "And to be down 2-0 as well. That's another thing we've rarely done. I can't think of the last time down we were down 2-0 against a really good team and come back and won. That was another big step we made tonight."

Hawai'i never led in the opening set, and trailed by as much as 15-10 before finding any kind of rhythm on offense. At that stage, four of its points came from missed UW serves and three came off Houston's right arm.

The 'Bows put together enough mini-rallies to cut their deficit to 21-19, but the Huskies scored the final three points. They came on two of Hawai'i's six hitting errors and Carlson's second ace, which hit the tape and crawled over.

Carlson also went 5 for 10 in the front row, helping the Huskies to a .452 hitting percentage — 200-plus points above the 'Bows.

Both teams' success rates dropped dramatically in a spectacular second set punctuated by 38 digs, six set points and a series of stunning momentum shifts.

Hawai'i went first, pulling ahead 8-4 on two loud kills and a louder stuff by Herring. The Rainbow Wahine pushed their advantage to 13-8, then saw Carlson take the Huskies on a 6-0 run. Washington pulled ahead 22-18, then found itself in its first real fight of the season.

The 'Bows scored three in a row on the serve of Kaufman, who came into the gym at 4 p.m. specifically to practice her jump float. Carlson's 12th kill got UW to set point at 24-22, but Herring erased the first with a kill and the second by stuffing Carlson with Nickie Thomas, after remarkable digs by UH reserves Stephanie Brandt and Jessica Keefe.

Herring's fourth roof gave Hawai'i set point at 25-24, but Carlson erased that with her eighth kill of the set. The Rainbows, led by Brandt and Herring, would stifle two more set points before Jessica Swarbrick buried her seventh kill in 11 swings and UH hit out to finish it at 29-27.

Then it got really close. The third set was tied 18 times, at every point from 8 to 24. Washington reached set point first, on Carlson's 19th kill. Stephanie Ferrell, inserted in the front row for Aneli Cubi-Otineru, brushed a kill off the block to knot it at 24. Ferrell, a redshirt freshman, would finish with nine kills.

Dani Mafua fired a serve at Becky Perry, UW's kill leader who had barely played all weekend but was brought in when Jane Collymore ran into passing problems. Perry shanked it and Houston buried the overset to give Hawai'i set point. Houston put that down too, transforming a wide set into a soft kill with her left hand.

Kaufman went into the fourth set with five aces. Heading into the fifth set, Kaufman had doubled her total, breaking Sarah Mason's UH record in the process.

The Rainbow Wahine pulled ahead early this time and held on, scoring six of the first nine points as Tara Hittle became the first 'Bow other than Kaufman to ace the Huskies. UH extended its advantage to 13-7 when Kaufman served five in a row, getting her seventh and eighth aces.

She also ended this one, serving the final five points that included two aces, all dropping to the floor in front of UW passers.

"I thought this was huge for the program, not only this year's team but the program in general," Shoji said. "We all read the media's comments about us not having success against top-10 teams. It was on everybody's mind.

"They are such a tough team we had to be really patient. They don't hit out, don't make errors. We had to earn every real point. Our players dug down really deep and just created some real points."

In the early match, Saint Mary's (7-2) won its first tournament match, defeating Pacific, 25-13, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19. The Tigers, coached by former UH assistant Charlie Wade, are 0-8 heading into their Big West season.

The Gaels were led by Megan York with 19 kills and 16 digs. Freshman Chanteal Satele, a Word of Life graduate fighting for a starting position, helped herself with 14 kills and a team-high .330 hitting percentage.

QUICK SETS

There were 7,325 tickets sold last night, surpassing the the 7,111 sold for the season opener against defending NCAA champion Penn State. ... Washington will host an NCAA regional Dec. 12 and 13. ... Hawai'i opens its Western Athletic Conference season Friday, hosting Idaho. Boise State comes into town Saturday. The Rainbow Wahine go on their first road trip the following week, playing at Louisiana Tech (Sept. 25), New Mexico State (Sept. 27) and San Jose State (Sept. 29).