Nothing like a beast of an opponent to put the brakes on fourth-ranked Hawai'i's fast start this volleyball season.

Those skid marks at Stan Sheriff Center last night were caused when second-ranked Texas ran over the Rainbow Wahine early and late in a 25-11, 25-22, 22-25, 25-11 victory at the 22nd annual Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic. The early-season, top-five showdown was an encouraging comeback sandwiched by discouraging blowouts for the 'Bows (4-1), who played before a season-high crowd of 7,615.

Nothing fazed the long and lanky Longhorns (4-0), who returned two of three first-team All-Americans from last year's final-four team and were led by 2007 national freshman of the year Juliann Faucette with 18 loud kills.

Not the raucous crowd, given just enough hope by the 'Bows to stay until the bitter end. And certainly not the Rainbow Wahine, who were too tiny and timid against the barrage Texas began and ended the night with.

"I thought our team came out very focused and executed extremely well," said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott. "My concern was can we stay with Hawai'i in the serve and pass game and I think over the course of time we did very well with that. We were able to do a lot of things we wanted to do."

After a breathtaking rally on the first serve, featuring five phenomenal Hawai'i digs, the Longhorns blitzed through the first set. Destinee Hooker's first kill put her on the service line and the 6-foot-4 All-America high jumper/hitter launched four straight points from an altitude the 'Bows might never have experienced before.

She forced two shanks that Texas setter Ashley Engle — an All-America hitter last season — drove to the floor, then blasted two aces that slashed into the net tape and fell on the UH side.

Texas would have six net serves crawl over in the first set. Things went downhill quickly for the 'Bows and the ball kept going straight down for the 'Horns, particularly Faucette (6-for-8) and Engle (5-for-8), who had no errors. Engle would finish with 13 kills and no errors; she is hitting an error-free .595 for the Classic.

"That is a weapon," UH coach Dave Shoji said, "that no one else has in the country."

The Longhorns led 12-3 by the time UH had used both timeouts. Texas served so well that the Rainbow passing, which had been the best part of their game the first four matches, got burned over and over. It didn't help that the Longhorns didn't miss a serve until Set 3.

"We got off to a horrendous start," Shoji said. "We couldn't pass Hooker's serve, got a little discouraged getting down so far, so after five minutes of the match we were going to be down 1-0 no matter what."

It took 20 minutes, but the 'Bows found themselves and some fight between sets, with sophomore Stephanie Ferrell providing much of the offense.

Kanani Danielson blasted three kills and a block to lift them to a 9-4 advantage in the second. Texas kept hanging around, finally catching Hawai'i at 20 and closing it out on Faucette's fifth kill of the set and Rachael Adams' first — the sophomore would come on to go 11-for-13 and hit .846.

After missing five serves in the third set, the 'Horns were out of timeouts and deep into a 19-14 hole as the 'Bows kept coming behind Danielson, Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Alexis Forsythe, inserted in the middle for freshman Brittany Hewitt.

This time Hawai'i pushed on, vaulting to 24-18 when Cubi-Otineru drilled two aces and Faucette made the 'Horns' first hitting error of the set. Texas erased four set points before Danielson dropped her eighth kill of the night.

She would finish with nine as Texas seized the momentum and quickly finished the 'Bows off. UH called its first timeout down 11-4 in the fourth. They were out of comebacks and the ability to rise to the Longhorns' ridiculously high level.

Texas hit .571 in the fourth set and .383 for the match.

Hawai'i had its most balanced attack of the year, with its worst attack percentage (.129). Ferrell had a team-high 11 kills, with four hitters getting at least eight. Danielson, averaging five kills a set and hitting nearly .400 coming in, had only flashes of her previous brilliance and was reduced to nine kills, eight errors and limping on her tender left ankle afterward.

The Rainbow Wahine promised to use their Texas disappointment as "a learning experience" and work harder on "passing, left-handed setters" and making the most of out-of-system opportunities. In other words, all the things the Longhorns did so incredibly well.

"There were a lot of positive things," Cubi-Otineru said. "At least we came back in the second and third set. After the first set we could have closed down, but we fought really well."

Saint Louis (3-2) continued to beat on the Bay Area in the opener. The 19th-ranked Billikens, whose upset of Stanford a year ago introduced them to the Top 25, swept 10th-ranked California, 25-20, 25-20, 25-22.

Saint Louis got 14 kills from Bridget Fonke — who hit .464 — and 12 from Megan Boken. The Billikens were blocked only three times and hit .296.

In contrast, the Golden Bears managed just a .208 hitting percentage. It would have been worse without All-American Hana Cutura, who had 17 of their 40 kills and hit .342.

Cal (2-3) has lost to UC Irvine, Texas and SLU this season, which gives it plenty of incentive for tonight's (5 p.m.) match against Hawai'i, which will be playing its fifth consecutive ranked opponent. Texas plays Saint Louis at 3 p.m.