Hurricanes didn't harm Louisiana Tech, but Western Athletic Conference volleyball has delivered some mild damage.

The Techsters (12-4 overall, 0-2 WAC) play 11th-ranked Hawai'i (7-6, 1-0) tonight (2 p.m. HST) in 8,000-seat Thomas Assembly Center at Ruston, La. After last week, an argument could be made that they are opening against the three top teams in the conference.

After doubling last year's win total in their first 14 matches, the Techsters have doubled this year's loss total in the past two. There was the painful five-game fall at Nevada Thursday, which ended LaTech's six-match win streak and perfect record (5-0) in five-gamers. Then Utah State leveled the Techsters in Logan, holding them to .020 hitting.

Now the Rainbow Wahine are in Ruston with their 107-match winning streak against WAC opponents, but without their Louisiana 'ohana. The friends and family of former 'Bow Kim Willoughby, who are 200 miles southeast of Ruston in Napoleonville, won't be able to make the trip this time.

They are safe and were somehow spared most of the damage from Katrina and Rita, according to Sandy Fussell, Willoughby's high school coach and unofficial president of the Rainbow boosters/Louisiana bureau. But massive scheduling changes caused by the hurricanes prevent them from making the 5-hour car ride.

"We were on the good side of Katrina and the bad side of Rita," Fussell said. "We fared very well in both cases."

Power was out for a few days after both hurricanes, and phone service remains sketchy in Napoleonville. But there was no flooding and little damage aside from some stray shingles and tree limbs.

Fussell would love to be in Ruston tonight — "It's nice to know y'all are still thinking about us" — but she calls her schedule "rigorous" now after replacing matches left open by teams dropping out for the season.

She is still looking for another Willoughby, who was the national player of the year as a senior (2003). "There's no more in the horizon," Fussell said. "But if we get hold of one, Hawai'i will be the first to know."

LaTech coach Heather Mazeitis is also still looking. She has seven new players this season and most play substantial roles. She describes last year's freshmen starters as her most experienced players.

Mazeitis has installed a new offense her two new setters struggled with last week. Before that, the Techsters were rolling against the likes of Louisiana-Lafayette, Centenary and Troy. The coach called it "creative scheduling" to inspire confidence, but insists her team's "streak" is not over.

Taking Nevada to the limit was promising — UH needed five games twice to beat the Wolfpack last season — so she hopes the sweep at Utah State was only a hiccup.

"We just hit a little bump, I think," Mazeitis said. "It was good to take Nevada to five. It was a really ugly match if you were a spectator, but it's conference and those are tougher teams. In those two matches we got no offensive production. We can play defense and block with the best of them, but if we can't turn it into offense, we're not going to win a lot."

Her offense starts with sophomores Shannon Phillips and Ambra Hayes, both averaging 3 1/2 kills a game. From there, Mazeitis says her team's best quality is its stubbornness.

"This team will fight back ...," she says. "If we can hang around long enough, we can do some damage."

LaTech has not been totally isolated from the hurricanes. One player's family had to evacuate its home in Houston, but there was no damage. Junior Sabrina Sims is the only Techster from Louisiana (Lake Charles) and her family not been able to return home.

Mazeitis feels fortunate. The only time her team was affected came Sunday, when it was re-routed from Houston to Dallas on its way back from Utah. After a 4-hour bus ride, it got home around midnight.

"It could have been worse," Mazeitis said. "If we hadn't taken that flight to Dallas, we wouldn't have been able to get home until Tuesday."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.