Beating two Top 11 teams to open the season has a way of doing that. And the convincing 15-12, 16-14, 15-9 sweep of defending national champion Nebraska Saturday night at the State Farm NACWAA Classic had Hawaii dancing to its new theme song, the Macarena, all the way back from Normal, Ill.
"We went to this tournament, wanting to prove something, and I think we did," said Wahine senior middle blocker Angelica Ljungquist, named the tournament MVP Saturday night after her sixth career triple-double (12 kills, 10 digs, 10 block assists).
The Wahine (2-0) left a load of doubt behind in Redbird Arena Saturday. They also came home with valuable insight into weaknesses that will need to be corrected if dreams of a national title come December are to be realized.
Lapses in concentration. Inconsistency from the right-side hitters. Little flaws that Hawaii will continue to work on beginning with this week's Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic at the Special Events Arena.
A near-capacity crowd is expected to watch Hawaii defend the tournament title against No. 25 Louisville Friday. No. 6 UCLA takes on unranked Michigan in the 5:30 p.m. opener.
"It's a real quick turnaround for us and we have some work ahead of us to prepare for some pretty good teams this week," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We can't rest mentally. We need to get back in the gym and work on some things.
"Obviously, the (inconsistent) outside hitting is a concern. But it's a tough position. We're small on the outside and I thought our hitters did a pretty good job with some tough sets and a big block. But we need to put the ball down consistently against the type of competition we saw this past weekend."
Hawaii should retain the No. 1 ranking after its wins over No. 11 Florida and fifth-rated Nebraska. The 97-minute victory over the Cornhuskers should especially solidify the top spot. It was the first time Nebraska lost in straight sets since the 1993 NCAA second-round match against Notre Dame.
The Cornhuskers had gone 64-2 since then. Last season, Nebraska dropped just six sets in 33 matches, sweeping 28 of its opponents.
For a program used to winning, and winning big, the comeback Hawaii made in Game 2 Saturday was particularly shocking.
A controversial net violation call on Ljungquist gave Nebraska a 14-11 lead. Hawaii's three-time All-American found the perfect way to avenge the call. Ljungquist got mad, then she got even ... and even better.
"I didn't feel myself touching the net and it really fired me up," said the senior tri-captain. "Robyn (setter Ah Mow) said, 'OK, same play, right back at them.' We got fired up after that and got on a roll."
It was more like a steamroller. By the time Ljungquist and Ah Mow teamed to block Kate Crnich, the Wahine had scored four straight points to take a 15-14 lead.
One play later, Joselyn Robins put down one of her 12 kills to give the Wahine a 2-0 advantage. The crowd of 3,657 saw the Cornhuskers mount one last rally in Game 3, tying it at 7-7 and closing to 13-9 before Therese Crawford and Robins closed it out with a kill each.
Ah Mow, who did a superb job of isolating the Nebraska block, also was named to the all-tournament team. Joining her were Cornhuskers Lisa Reitsma (18 kills) and Jamie Krondak (13), Florida's Jenny Wood and Aurymar Rodriguez, and Andi Hardwick of Illinois State.
"I was a little surprised that we won in three," said Chastity Nobriga. "But they started to get tentative in Game 3, seemed like they gave up already.
"Being No. 1 doesn't really mean anything at this point. We just want to play hard and win, even if they are ugly wins. Now we need to get better."
Nobriga tied her career high for block assists Friday with seven. She broke that mark Saturday with eight.
Hawaii set a school record for most block assists (36) in a three-game match against Nebraska.