Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Amber Kaufman played near-perfect volleyball last night, leading ninth-ranked Hawai'i to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-17 victory over host Nevada. The Western Athletic Conference match was watched by 846 at Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev.

The victory gave the Rainbow Wahine (15-3) a sweep of both road matches and kept them tied for first in the WAC with New Mexico State at 8-1.

"We did what we wanted to do," said UH coach Dave Shoji, whose team went into its second trip after getting upset by New Mexico State a week ago. "We struggled at times and didn't look great all the time, but that's probably not possible. I think we re-established our offense and people did what they had to do."

Beginning with juniors Cubi-Otineru and Kaufman. Cubi-Otineru led all hitters with 13 kills. She did not have an error until the third set and finished with a .385 hitting percentage. Kaufman was more efficient in the middle, going 9-for-13 with one error and a .615 percentage.

That more than compensated for an off night on offense by All-American Jamie Houston, who hit negative (5 kills, 6 errors), but was a force on defense, serving and blocking.

"She had a rough night hitting, but sometimes when her hitting is off her whole game is off," Shoji said. "Tonight she served well, played good defense and blocked really well."

Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, who remains oh-for-Hawai'i in her playing and coaching careers, said her team's strategy against all the UH hitters was to give them the down-the-line shot. Houston didn't take it, but Cubi-Otineru and freshman Kanani Herring (9 kills) thrived. And Kaufman was all but untouchable in the middle.

"We were able to slow Houston down for sure, but Aneli just played great," Scruggs said. "And Kaufman hammered us on the slide (play). The bottom line is, we just didn't have the outside hitters to compete against them. When our outsides are hitting zero and negative, it's just too many errors. We can't put the ball away."

The Rainbows' block also contributed to Nevada's hitting woes, collecting 9 1/2 stuffs and ending every set by blocking the Wolf Pack (9-10, 4-5 WAC). Nickie Thomas was in on six of those stuffs, and reserves Jessica Keefe and Catherine Fowler combined for the final block on match point.

Hawai'i scored six straight early to pull ahead 8-3 in the first set. It played keepaway to 25, with Kaufman burying all five of her swings and Cubi-Otineru going 4-for-8.

The 'Bows were down 10-7 early in the second, but a 6-1 run put them ahead 18-15, and Thomas and Houston finished it off with a stuff. They made an early 7-4 advantage stand up in the final set.

Sophomore Dani Mafua had 31 of the Rainbows' 40 assists.

The Rainbows hit .333 in the first set, .268 in the second and .208 in the third for a .276 overall mark.

The Wolf Pack hit .179 in the first set, .167 in the second and .077 in the third, and finished at .144 for the match.

Nevada, which starts five underclassmen, got eight kills from freshman Erin Garvey on the outside. But sophomore Kylie Harrington — a St. Francis graduate — and senior Allison Hernandez combined to hit zero (9 kills, 9 errors). Freshman Tatiana Santiago, out of Kamehameha, had five assists and two digs in a reserve role.

NOTES

Hawai'i returns home today and hosts San Jose State Friday at 7 p.m., and Fresno State next Sunday at 5 p.m. Nevada comes to the Stan Sheriff Center Halloween Night.

In upsets Friday, seventh-ranked Washington continued its climb back up after losing to Hawai'i with an upset of sixth-ranked Oregon, and No. 21 Purdue stopped No. 19 Wisconsin. Both matches went five sets.