On the final night of their final season-opening volleyball tournament, 16th-ranked Hawai'i accomplished much more than holding off 19th-ranked Santa Clara. After two weekends of woeful closing night performances, the Rainbow Wahine absorbed all the Broncos had to give last night and gave it back with interest.

The 'Bows' 28-30, 30-20, 30-28, 30-27 victory in the 13th annual Waikiki Beach Marriott Challenge gave them their 11th Challenge championship and a much more optimistic outlook heading into the conference season. The first two weeks of their season ended with ugly losses to Oregon State and fifth-ranked UCLA; this one closed with gritty victories over good teams.

"After the Oregon State match I wasn't sure what our record would be today," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I had confidence in our players that they just needed time to settle in. The key now is to keep getting better. We've gotten better over two weeks but now we can't just stay even.

"We have to practice hard and we haven't had many opportunities. Now, with the WAC season, we're going to get three or four days of practice. You've got to go hard and get better."

Hawai'i progress from Day 1 is dramatic. Players admitted they had to start again after being buried by the Bruins. The 'Bows (6-3) started slow Thursday, then blitzed by Eastern Washington, dug deep to overtake Kansas State in five Friday and went toe to toe with Santa Clara, a final-four team two years ago, before applying the knockout punch last night before 4,619 at Stan Sheriff Center.

"Before this tournament even started we decided this was square one," said first-year UH setter Stephanie Brandt. "As a team we sat down and decided this is where our season begins. This is where we start playing together. This is where we come together, right here and right now. Everybody made a conscious effort to really improve things they hadn't been doing."

Jamie Houston, who hit for negative numbers Thursday, elevated back to All-American status the final two nights to collect the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. She had a match-high 26 kills against the Broncos (6-3) and hit .388. Aneli Cubi-Otineru, in her first week starting on the left, was also named to the all-tournament team along with freshman libero Liz Ka'aihue, whose 20 digs led five 'Bows in double figures.

Otineru blasted 16 kills through the Broncos' big block. Sophomore Amber Kaufman, starting in the middle for the first time in her career, added 10 kills and gave the 'Bows a new look attacking behind Brandt. Hittle, back playing the right for the first time in three years, hit .150 points higher this week and had her most consistent performances defensively.

And still, the Rainbows couldn't shake Santa Clara and Brittany Lowe (20 kills, .320 hitting, 18 digs). She carved up the 'Bows' block in Game 1, and dinked it to death the rest of the night. The Broncos (6-3) controlled most of the first game, but their edge lasted only as long as it took Jayme Lee to serve six straight points in Game 2. Hawai'i owned that game, out-hitting Santa Clara .296-.106, with Kaufman (5 kills) and Hittle (4) going a combined 9-for-15 to take the pressure off the left sides.

From there, kills were hard to come by as both teams groveled through Game 3 and 4 with great defense. Nina Sevastopoulos (15 kills) and Lindsy Evans (14), who were both hitting .000 in Game 2, began to give Santa Clara's attack more diversity while Hawai'i just kept coming up with enough to hold it off.

"Last night we stayed disciplined and followed the gameplan," Cubi-Otineru said. "Today it was the same thing. I guess it gave us that courage and we believed it was going to work so we came through."

The Rainbows, for the second straight night, finally believed in each other.

The ending was in stark contrast to the first two weeks. Shoji believes all but one or two of the teams Hawai'i has seen to start the season will make the NCAA Tournament, giving his team "five quality wins."

"We've grown tremendously in three weeks," he said. "That's what tough preseasons do for you."

NOTES

In the opener, Wichita State (6-3) became the third team to sweep Eastern Washington (1-8) this weekend. The scores were 30-21, 30-18, 30-20, with the Shockers out-hitting the Eagles by nearly 300 points (.306-.034). WSU libero Kelly Broussard, who tied a Challenge record Friday with 34 digs, had 18 last night.

Hawai'i opens its Western Athletic Conference season at home Friday against Idaho and Saturday against Boise State. The Vandals were picked to finish third in the preseason poll, behind UH and NMSU, and the Broncos sixth.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.