Hawai'i's mind-boggling waltz through the Western Athletic Conference continued last night as the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine swept Utah State, 30-20, 30-28, 30-19. The victory, before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,458, extended the 'Bows' win streak over WAC volleyball opponents to 114.

That might not be their most impressive run right now, however. After a maddeningly mediocre start, the Rainbows (14-6, 8-0 WAC) have won 18 straight games since dropping the first two at New Mexico State three weeks ago. It is a dominance that was dearly missing the first month of the season.

The Aggies (13-9, 5-3), who dropped into a third-place tie in the WAC with NMSU, came close to ending that streak last year. When they couldn't hold off the 'Bows in Game 2, their upset hopes died.

USU was overwhelmed — by UH and a volleyball environment very different than what it sees at home in Logan — in Game 1. But the Aggies, with four senior starters, bounced back to take a 12-8 advantage in Game 2. They played keepaway with the lead behind four hitters who like to hammer.

"They basically just went up there and hit the ball as hard as they could," said UH sophomore Kathy Gregory, who started for second-team All-American Victoria Prince, suffering from stomach flu. "We haven't come up against that in the WAC yet. ... These girls were hitting pretty high and pretty darn hard."

The Aggies' hardest hitter is Zuzana Cernianska, who came into the match leading the WAC in kills with nearly five a game. She finished with a team-high 13, but had nine hitting errors for a .125 percentage.

"I don't think we were quite ready for the speed of her armswing," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "She got through our block. We just kind of wore her down and she hit some out and we blocked some at the end."

Beth Hodge also had trouble keeping it in from the outside, but middles Ingrid Roth and Erin Graybill were extremely effective — with the exception of the end of Game 2.

Hawai'i caught USU at 23, on the first of six straight Susie Boogaard serves. Juliana Sanders, who had 10 kills and hit .500 for the match, put UH ahead. Setter Kanoe Kamana'o stuffed Hodge and freshman Jamie Houston's kill made it 26-23.

The Aggies shanked a pass before the teams traded service errors. Utah State scored the next three points to cut its deficit to 28-27. Hawai'i called time and Sarah Mason had two of her match-high 15 kills in the final three serves to end it.

"We settled down a little bit in the second game," USU coach Burt Fuller said. "I think we have kids that can compete at Hawai'i's level. I'm not going to say we'll win all the time, but we can compete and we started doing that in Game 2. ... It wasn't enough to sustain down the stretch, unfortunately."

Hawai'i didn't give the Aggies a chance to do it in the first and last games. UH hit .486 in Game 1. That percentage dropped 200 points in Game 2 as the Aggies' block began to touch the ball. That block faded to black in the final game and Hawai'i never trailed despite tweaking the lineup to get 13 players in.

It was nothing like the last time the teams played, 11 months ago in Logan. That night Utah State took UH, then recently anointed the No. 1 team in the country, to five games before going down. Last night, the 'Bows also got double-digit kills from Sanders and Tara Hittle, who had her second double-double (10 kills, 12 digs) of the season. Gregory had eight kills and just one hitting error.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.