Fourth-ranked Hawai‘i put together more good streaks than bad last night to sweep 25th-ranked Pepperdine, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21. The non-conference volleyball match was watched by 4,559 at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine (8-2) have won four straight going into tonight’s rematch, while the Waves (7-4) have lost three of their last four.
The ‘Bows showed a balanced attack last night, led by Kanani Danielson’s 11 kills and Aneli Cubi-Otineru’s nine. But it was their defense and block that ultimately wiped the Waves out, with freshman Brittany Hewitt in on nine of the 12 stuffs and libero Liz Ka‘aihue getting 17 digs.
Pepperdine was led by Lilla Frederick’s 11 kills and libero Stevi Robinson had 18 digs. Frederick, Danielson and Cubi-Otineru are all under 6 feet.
Hawai‘i scored 17 of the night’s first 22 points, going error-free offensively and stuffing four balls. The Waves woke after calling their second timeout, scoring 13 of the final 21 points, including a 5-0 run on Robinson’s serve.
The ‘Bows’ first hitting error came at 20-9. There would be three more before it was over and no more blocks.
The Rainbow Wahine weathered another breakdown in Set 2. Another five-point Pepperdine run was ignited by three straight UH hitting errors. Sophomore Stephanie Ferrell had the last, and was taken out with one kills and five errors.
The Waves got two of their own kills to go ahead 8-5 before the ‘Bows battled back. They tied it at 9 on Stephanie Brandt’s ace and pulled ahead on Hewitt’s block. The freshman would get two more as Hawai‘i scored four in a row to pull ahead 21-14.
The final set was tied 12 times, the last at 15. The Rainbows scored the next three points, with Danielson getting two kills. Pepperdine never got closer than two again.
Hawai‘i opens Western Athletic Conference play Thursday against Boise State.

NOTES
Hawai‘i did not lead the nation in attendance this week for the first time since Sept. 3, 2007. The slump is over. Nebraska, which pulled ahead with a record crowd of 13,000-plus last week outside its usual home gym, has already turned in its attendance figures for next week’s report. The ‘Huskers are down 500, to 6,041, which should put Hawai‘i back in first. UH averaged 6,369 its first nine matches. The Rainbow Wahine have led the nation, with only rare exceptions, since moving into the Stan Sheriff Center in 1994.
Until last night, seventh-ranked UCLA had only lost to Hawai‘i this season. Then unranked Cal State Fullerton upset the Bruins, 16-14 in the fifth, in Fullerton. Ninth-ranked Minnesota also lost in five, to 12th-ranked Oregon.
Former Hawai‘i All-American Heather Bown scored 19 points, but Team USA fell to top-ranked Brazil in the final of the Final Four Intercontinental Cup last weekend in Lima, Peru.
Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043