Hawai'i and Stanford again found a way to fast-forward through the opposition, setting up a Top-10 showdown in tonight's final of the 15th annual Honolulu Advertiser Volleyball Challenge.

The sixth-ranked Rainbow Wahine (6-2) blew through Texas-San Antonio, 25-15, 25-9, 25-14 last night, before 3,573 at Stan Sheriff Center. Earlier, the 10th-ranked Cardinal (5-2) swept Weber State, 25-16, 25-20, 25-16.

Hawai'i and Stanford play for the championship at 7 tonight, following the UTSA-Wildcat match. The 'Bows are going for their 13th Challenge title. The Cardinal won in its last appearance, three years ago. It took two days, but very little court time for both to get here.

The Rainbows hit .500 against San Antonio, a season-high that would be stunning if Stanford had not hit 54 points better against the Roadrunners a night earlier.

"Everybody thinks size makes you so successful," said UTSA coach Laura Groff, when asked to compare UH and Stanford. "I guess that was obvious when Texas came in here and tore Hawai'i apart. But at the same time, Texas has quite a few ballhandlers. I would have to say I am much more impressed with Hawai'i's ballhandling skills, but I don't think we tested Stanford's ballhandling skills as much as Hawai'i will.

"Size-wise, Stanford is huge. If Hawai'i doesn't hit smart they are going to get roofed just like everybody else has."

Hawai'i used 13 players and got kills from nine last night, with all but two hitting at least .400. Transfer Corinne Cascioppo, who played front row the final two sets, was blocked in her first two attempts — UTSA's only stuffs — and had half the 'Bows' six hitting errors.

After going down to second-ranked Texas and then-No. 10 Cal last week, Hawai'i came into this week desperately seeking consistency — and another shot at a great team. UH coach Dave Shoji could find little wrong with his team the past two nights, against its first unranked opponents since the season-opener.

Shoji again sprinkled reserves generously into the final set last night and there still was no dropoff. "You don't notice anything," UH setter Dani Mafua said, "because everyone is so fired up just to be in there and is ready for the ball."

Hawai'i was in control from the time it scored the first four points through a match that had just one lead change.

Freshman Brittany Hewitt and sophomore Kanani Danielson led UH with 10 kills apiece, Hewitt tying a career high, hitting .643 and stuffing five balls. Danielson, Stephanie Ferrell, Alexis Forsythe and Catherine Fowler were error-free and libero Liz Ka'aihue had 10 digs in two sets.

In contrast, the Roadrunners (3-7) hit for a negative percentage in the second set and .068 for the night, getting seven kills from freshman Whitney Walls but not much else. Still, Groff saw more from her team than she did Thursday.

"They are just much better than us, player for player," said Groff, whose team is playing away from the Mainland for the first time. "We've got a couple of athletes, a couple nice volleyball players. They've got a whole team."

Hawai'i's big, broad statistical numbers will probably be missing tonight, against a team that is replacing two first-team All-Americans, but has been in the last three NCAA championship finals. The Rainbow Wahine need no added incentive after being demolished in last year's regional.

"I remember the number nine," said Shoji, referring to the 25-9 smackdown Stanford put on his team in the middle of December's sweep. "But for me it's not anything to do with last year. They are a completely different team. But they're a Pac-10 team. They've got great tradition, great coaching, great players. It's just a challenge."

Stanford found itself in an 11-8 hole in the opening set against Weber State (1-8), but scored 17 of the last 22 points and trailed only once the rest of the match. The Cardinal was led by junior Cassidy Lichtman with 10 kills, while Stephanie Browne and Hayley Spelman each had seven in just two sets.

The Wildcats, who have lost their last six, got 11 kills from Jenna Legat.

As of yesterday afternoon, 6,732 tickets had been sold for tonight. Stanford coach John Dunning does not expect much resemblance to his team's regional blitz of Hawai'i.

"Hawai'i is a lot different than they were last year too," said Dunning. "We're really different. There are some similarities, but I think there are as many differences, just in personnel."