LAS VEGAS — And the beatings go on, along with the volleyball streaks.

Third-ranked Hawai'i will play New Mexico State for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship tonight (4:30 p.m. HST), for the fourth straight year. The top-seeded Rainbow Wahine (27-2) wasted little time with fifth-seeded Fresno State last night, cruising to a 25-15, 25-15, 25-17 win before 1,827 at Orleans Arena.

About 1,700 were rooting for the 'Bows in their adopted hometown. They were not disappointed as Hawai'i ran its winning streak to 23, its WAC winning streak to 29 and its WAC Tournament streak to 28.

It has not lost a tournament match since 1997, the last year the Rainbow Wahine did not win the WAC.

NMSU has tried to stop them the past three seasons, beating UH in the regular season twice and extending it the last three finals and both matches this season.

But the Aggies have yet to break through in this match that decides the WAC's automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament. Chances are, NMSU (19-8) needs a win tonight to make its fourth consecutive postseason appearance. Its RPI dropped to No. 76 this week. Hawai'i fell one slot, to No. 22. Idaho, the third seed which Boise State upset Monday, is the next WAC team at No. 173.

"If Hawai'i lets them in the door I think New Mexico State has a shot," FSU coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. "But Hawai'i is certainly the strongest team this year.

"Each team below them has a weakness you can find. With Hawai'i, it's a matter of are they passing well and playing well as a team that day."

With fairly relentless regularity, the Rainbows have played well all WAC season, dropping just four sets. Last night was no exception.

The first two sets against fifth-seeded FSU (15-16) lasted 19 minutes each, with Aneli Cubi-Otineru getting the volleyball equivalent of nothing but net seven times, blasting kills the Bulldogs never even touched.

The senior, who finished with 11 kills and hit .625, was not the only 'Bow to burn the 'Dogs. She was the only one to tag FSU's Kelli Parker on the toe and shoulder with rapid-fire deflections from 10 feet away.

Two days after being named WAC Player of the Year, Kanani Danielson blasted a match-high 12 kills. Seven came in a breathtaking final set, including four in a row that put UH up 7-4.

On the right side, Stephanie Ferrell had nine kills. And, while middles Brittany Hewitt and Amber Kaufman were not efficient offensively, Hewitt dropped in on five roofs.

The 'Bows also blew FSU away from the service line, with eight aces and a series of service runs, particularly from Cubi-Otineru and Stephanie Brandt, that made it a fairly stress-free night. Libero Liz Ka'aihue chipped in 14 digs — nine fewer than the Fresno team.

It was the performance UH coach Dave Shoji was looking for, and Cubi-Otineru is focused on more tonight.

"We should just treat it as any other match," she said. "This should give us more initiative to get momentum for the playoffs, and get better."

Shoji is looking for even more.

"Winning is going to be the focus," he said. "How we win is important to me as a coach. If we win, we want to win looking good and playing well. I don't think it has a bearing on the (NCAA) selection, but bottom line is, you want to win. We want to win for ourselves and for us to feel good about ourselves going into the playoffs. We don't want to end on a down note and have to get back up next week. We want to just ride this as high as we can and get some momentum going."

Fresno State's season ended last night. It was the Bulldogs' best since Punahou graduate Lindy Vivas was coaching in 2004, and Netherby-Sewell cried when she thanked her seniors and her team for their effort.

"We talked about finishing a season playing the best team instead of playing one of the worst," the coach said. "In past years we played the lowest seed and hoped for the best and this year we earned our way to finishing our season against one of the best teams in the country."

Sixth-seed Boise State could not convert against NMSU in the early semifinal. The Broncos (8-22) had five set points in the second, but NMSU scored the final seven and ultimately won, 25-16, 26-24, 25-10.

Kayleigh Giddens led all attackers with 13 kills for NMSU, which out-hit Boise, .391 to .067. Hawai'i out-hit Fresno, .390 to .136.

Tonight, both coaches will be focused on passing. If NMSU cannot stay in system, middles Erin Birmingham (8-for-9) and Kelsey Brennan (8-for-10) won't come close to hitting .842, as they did last night. If UH passes poorly, the Aggies are capable of blocking it off the court.

"At times we've been a very good blocking team — 2.8 a game, 24th in the country," NMSU coach Mike Jordan said. "We do some good things blocking and when we beat them at their place last year that was a huge part of it. Our block frustrated them. Hopefully we'll be able to serve tough and get after it defensively."

NOTES

Tonight's WAC Championship will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 4:30 p.m. Hawai'i time. It will also be aired live in Hawai'i on ESPN/1420 AM.

Poor pronunciation by the announcer during introductions inspired so much laughter he finally said, "OK folks, you try this."