Over the course of two soul-searching nights, sixth-ranked Hawai'i played volleyball as well as second-ranked Washington half the time and half as well the rest of the time. The result was two Husky sweeps and deep Rainbow Wahine doubts.

UH fell 30-28, 30-20, 30-28 last night, blowing huge opportunities in the first and last games before 6,817 at Stan Sheriff Center. The 'Bows (5-5) are at .500 as they open their conference season Thursday. The five losses — all against top-five teams — are as many as UH accumulated the last three seasons combined.

"We just didn't make any plays down the stretch in Game 1 and Game 3," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "It's just baffling why we can't make a play when we've made plays to get into position to win. Obviously we're not handling the pressure of the moment.

"When you're close like that but you lose ... even though you're close in the score you're not close to winning those kinds of games when you lose every one of them. I'd say we're a long way off from figuring this out."

In contrast, the Huskies (9-0), who return six starters from last year's final-four team, are at their finest when they have no room to fail. They outscored Hawai'i 17-10 in the final half of the first game and 6-1 to end the match.

"We have a lot of figuring out, I'd have to say," said Tara Hittle, who played front row for the first time this season and was the only UH hitter to play the entire match. "Whether it's how we're going to make plays to finish the game or who is going to be playing or who wants to be in there and give their all to win games. We just have a lot of figuring out to do."

Washington has won all 27 games it has played this season. The Rainbow Wahine put a dent in its domination, but it was only percentage deep.

When they held Christal Morrison down, Brie Hagerty hammered away. When Hagerty got frustrated late, Morrison went off. Sanja Tomasevic — who had nine hitting errors the first seven matches and 11 this weekend — was erratic, but Alesha Deesing was unstoppable.

All four had at least a dozen kills last night so even though the team hit 200 points below its average the result was simply more of the same success. UH also hit into 10 fewer blocks last night, but had nothing to show for it.

"Tonight I felt we played a little bit below our standard but we found a way to win," UW coach Jim McLaughlin said. "That's a nice mentality for this team — that element of toughness."

It might be the missing element for Hawai'i. Shoji warned the team, at a somber post-match meeting Victoria Prince described as "nothing like I've seen at UH," that practices would be more competitive beginning tomorrow.

"Just frustration about the mental errors," explained Prince, who had a team-high 13 kills on .591 hitting. "Physically we're a good team. We're physically capable. We're a great volleyball team. We just make mental errors. It's not good but at least mental errors you get in the gym and you can fix it. We can do that. ... Mental errors shouldn't be happening at this point, especially when the score is 29-28."

In two nights, Washington altered its front row for seven serves. Shoji is shuffling hitters like he's playing with eight decks. He also brought middle blocker Kari Gregory, out with a knee injury the last two matches, back for the final game. Prince, Hittle (9 kills, 13 digs), libero Ashley Watanabe (16 digs) and setter Kanoe Kamana'o, who led the team in blocks, were the only full-time players.

Looking for more uptempo offense, Shoji basically reverted to his 2004 lineup to start the match, with Hittle and Alicia Arnott on the left. The old look surged to an 18-13 lead then stalled. The Huskies roared ahead 29-26, got blocked twice at game point, then won on Tomasevic's sixth kill.

Sarah Mason took Arnott's place and Jessica Keefe (front row) and Cayley Thurlby (back) replaced Boogaard in the midst of a one-sided Game 2. Gregory was the only change in the third.

"There's encouraging things out there going on," Shoji said. "Getting in position to win against a really good team ... obviously we're doing something right. But not to close it is really disappointing."

NOTES

Hawai'i opens its WAC season Thursday with a match against Boise State. The Rainbow Wahine then finish their non-conference schedule, playing Loyola Marymount Friday and Saturday. The alumnae match will precede Saturday's match.

The 'Bows hadn't lost consecutive home matches since 1997 and hadn't been swept in consecutive home matches since 1993.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.