Pretty much whatever went up came down where seventh-ranked Hawai'i wanted it to last night as it blitzed Cal State Northridge, 30-17, 30-22, 30-24, on the second day of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Volleyball Challenge.

Hawai'i (4-3) takes on 10th-ranked UCLA tonight for the Challenge championship.

UH lowered the boom on the inexperienced Matadors (2-5), who lost all the starters off last year's NCAA Tournament team and started five freshmen. The 'Bows hit a remarkable .573 before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,761. It was a record high for the rally-scoring era. The UH record is .657, set against Cal State Fullerton in 1987.

The 'Bows' precision could be traced to a few factors.

Northridge coach Jeff Stork, a three-time Olympian, simply gave the Hawai'i hitters credit. Freshman Jamie Houston had a dozen often impressive kills in two error-free games. All-American Victoria Prince added 10 kills in 11 swings, breaking her own rally-scoring record by hitting .909. Juliana Sanders was also 10 for 11 until late in the match, and finished 11 for 15.

"I think we played a very good match considering the rebound from UCLA (Thursday)," Stork said. "I think the only set we were in last night was the third. Tonight we started better and finished better just based on our hitting stats in the last game. Whenever we hit .350 against a pretty good team ... unfortunately, they hit .480."

UH coach Dave Shoji gave the Matadors an assist for the abnormally high number.

"They didn't slow too many down," he said. "They're just not a physical team, so we could pretty much hit anywhere. They've got some size but it's not over the net."

Or under the ball. CSUN managed just three blocks and 24 digs all night, with half the digs coming in the final game.

Shoji and Sanders also recalled associate coach Charlie Wade's pre-match comment to "aim for the orange," or inside the court.

"Everyone just aimed for the orange and it worked out perfect," Sanders said, grinning. "We took it to heart."

"I think Charlie said it sarcastically," Shoji said, "but that's what we did. We hit the ball in the orange. Someone joked in the locker room that we should have said that earlier."

For nearly three games, Susie Boogaard had the only three hitting errors. Sanders and Sarah Mason, playing for the first time since the season opener, missed in the waning moments to bring UH below .600. Little else went wrong as Hawai'i won its 204th straight match over an unranked opponent.

It warmed up by hitting .600 in Game 1. The middles were particularly precise, with Prince 7 for 7 and Sanders 4 for 4. Up 23-12, UH brought Mason in for the first time since she sprained her ankle.

Mason started the second game and got her first block as a 'Bow. That was overshadowed by a barrage of UH kills. Houston hammered home her first eight swings and the middles were almost untouchable again, with Prince and Sanders a combined 7 for 9. UH kicked its hitting percentage up a notch, to .654.

In Game 3, Shoji started Mason (3 kills, 2 blocks) and Alicia Arnott (5 for 7) on the left and Nickie Thomas (3 for 3, 3 stuffs) and Kari Gregory in the middle, with Ashley Watanabe taking over at libero for Tara Hittle. Gregory tweaked her knee early and went out, but the Rainbows rolled on.

By the end, all 16 Rainbow Wahine had played. Fittingly, former softball player Caroline Blood ended it with her first collegiate kill. She, Thomas and Cayley Thurlby batted 1.000 on the night.

The Bruins (5-0) remained unbeaten by scoring nine of the final 10 points against Cincinnati to win, 25-30, 32-30, 30-22, 27-30, 15-9. The Bearcats (1-4) pushed it to the limit by outscoring UCLA 15-9 to end Game 4.

It was Cincinnati coach Reed Sunahara's first match against his alma mater. Sunahara, a Hilo High graduate, was a two-time All-American at UCLA and won three national championships.

Nana Meriwether had a match-high 18 kills and was in on all but two of the Bruins' 11 blocks. On the final six serves, Meriwether had two kills and three stuffs. In the first four games, Cincinnati forced her into nine hitting errors and a .176 percentage.

NOTES

Cincinnati fell to 3-26 against ranked opponents and 0-5 in the Challenge. The Bearcats lost all three matches in their 2001 appearance. ... UCLA's Andy Banachowski needs 11 wins to become the first collegiate women's volleyball coach with 1,000. ... Second-ranked Washington comes in next weekend for Friday and Saturday matches. After playing top-10 teams in seven of their first 10 matches, the 'Bows don't have a ranked team on their schedule after the Huskies.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.