LAS CRUCES, N.M. — In this Jekyll-and-Hyde Hawai'i volleyball season there has been good Jamie Houston and bad Jamie Houston. Last night Jamie Houston was simply awesome.

The junior All-American lifted the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine over Nevada, 30-27, 30-28, 30-21, last night in a Western Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal. The 'Bows (23-5), seeded No. 1, will play 13th-ranked New Mexico State in tonight's (5 p.m. HST) championship at Pan American Center.

The second-seeded Aggies (26-4) overtook sixth-seeded San Jose State (14-15) in the first two games and went on to a 31-29, 31-29, 30-23 victory in last night's other semifinal.

"This is something all of Las Cruces has been waiting for and we've been waiting for," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "It will be a battle."

Hawai'i has won the last nine WAC titles, and NCAA Tournament slots that go with them. It will need Houston to win a 10th.

She was responsible for nearly half Hawai'i's offense last night with 27 kills. She hit "only" .404 because the triple block that shadowed her for nearly 2 hours found a few moments of success in the second game, and Houston lost a contact lens.

"I thought we played our hearts out and Jamie just ... we tried to slow her down but unfortunately we weren't able to stop her," said Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, who laughed out loud when Houston soared over her blockers and floated a tip shot straight down to the opposite corner of the net — with her left hand. "The gameplan actually did work for the most part. When we tripled her she struggled. When we forgot ... like the first six points we were not in the gameplan. Once everybody was on board we were able to at least slow her down. I think she would have had a whole lot more kills if we hadn't tripled. We dug her over 20 times."

Nevada senior Karly Sipherd looked at her coach and grinned.

"That's a scary thought," the all-WAC middle blocker said, contemplating what more Houston could have done to help UH beat Nevada for the fifth time in six years in this tournament.

She did enough, abusing the Pack's small outside blockers along with Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who added 13 kills and nearly hit .400 as well. Outside of the left sides, the Hawai'i attack was ordinary. But Otineru, Tara Hittle and Liz Ka'aihue passed well enough long enough to let setter Stephanie Brandt exploit Nevada's weak spots, and combined for 37 of UH's 59 digs. UH also out-blocked the Pack 10-6, with Houston getting three solos.

This was the newly crowned WAC Player of the Year's night, after two she would like to erase. Houston never got going in Utah State's sweep of Hawai'i Sunday, and her offense was erratic at best in Thursday's first round.

"It's just me," Houston said. "Sometimes I'm not as focused as I should be."

Brandt also took some blame. "Part of it has to do with the setting," she said. "If she's comfortable with me getting her a good set she's going to be more aggressive. It's a team thing. It's never just an individual."

Houston was far too focused for Nevada (16-11) last night, again. This was her lowest hitting percentage (but highest number of kills) against the Pack in three sweeps this season.

The 'Bows needed every one of Houston's 21 kills in the first two games as Nevada went down digging and screaming, with the New Mexico State crowd screaming with it.

It didn't start or end that way. Hawai'i led 13-6 minutes into the match with Houston planting five of her first six swings. And, after gritty comebacks in the first two games, the Pack had little left in Game 3.

"Nevada really forced us to play well," Shoji said. "They hung around and hung around in Games 1 and 2 and we really had to bear down at the end of each game. I thought our team responded well."

The Wolf Pack rallied in the first behind middles Lindsay Baldwin and Sipherd, who were a combined 12-for-22. It got within 27-24 before the 'Bows could finish, with Houston, Juliana Sanders and Otineru dropping the decisive kills.

Nevada rode the momentum of its first-game rally into a second game full of spurts and eight ties. An 8-3 surge put UH up 22-17, but the Pack came back to tie it at 27 and 28. Otineru's ninth kill — without an error — put the 'Bows at game point and Otineru stuffed it with Kari Gregory.

Sipherd closed her career with a team-high 13 kills, moving into sixth on the career list. Teal Ericson, third in career kills at Nevada, got 10 kills but hit .125.

This was a night for Hawai'i's hitters, particularly Houston.

"She's worked so hard at hitting all those shots," Shoji said. "She's developed into a player that has a lot of weapons. She's really made progress through the year. She's taken half a step backwards the last week, but tonight she was the kind of player she can be.

"And Stephanie hit it on the nose. When she's in rhythm and Stephanie is in rhythm ... a lot of the key is getting a good rhythm early. If Stephanie doesn't get her early and good that's when there's a little doubt. Tonight Stephanie did a nice job by getting her involved early and getting her some really nice sets."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.