Even if Hawaii's volleyball game against Nittaidai last night was just an exhibition.

After losing their first match of the season and No. 1 ranking against Stanford last Saturday, the Wahine wanted - maybe even needed - a victory against their "sister school" from Japan before hitting the road tonight.

"It's a double-edged sword," said Hawaii associate coach Howard Wallace after the erratic 12-15, 15-7, 14-16, 15-8, 15-10 marathon win at the Special Events Arena. "It's listed as an exhibition, so it's not a win or a loss on our record. But everyone's competitive. The players are competitive. The coaches are competitive. And it was in the back of our minds that it would be two losses in a row. That put a lot of pressure on us."

Senior hitter Joselyn Robins, who led the fifth-game rally scoring rally, knew Hawaii had to take this one seriously. But early on, it looked as though the Wahine thought they were playing a video game - so did one of the 3,702 in attendance, who called the opponents "Nintendo."

"When we went to Japan (last March) we had a rough time with them," Robins said. "They beat us badly. Going into this, we wanted to beat them badly. And we knew we had to get right back to work (after the Stanford loss). But I think we came out more relaxed than we should have. We practiced with them, so we knew how they ran their offense and defense. And we didn't expect them to come out so hard."

Nittaidai dominated early. Playing relentless defense and hacking away at Hawaii's sometimes spectacular, sometimes out-of-position blockers, Nittaidai won games one and three.

And the Wahine blew a 14-8 lead in the third game, as Mayumi Itoh and Kanako Nishimura led Nittaidai. Despite a huge advantage in blocking and the typically superb all-around play of blocker Angelica Ljungquist, Nittaidai was in control after the pivotal game.

Robins said team quickness helped the visitors gain the momentum.

"I'd rank them right up there," Robins said. "It's a completely different offense than what we normally see. Every player can hit a quick set, and that's pretty rare."

Regardless, Wallace said Nittaidai's biggest threat was its outside hitting, and the coaches had prepared a defense that the players weren't executing early in the match.

"And they're so quick that if you don't have four hands over the net real quick, they can do a lot of things," Wallace said. "Which we saw tonight."

Robins led Hawaii's comeback with eight kills in game four, and she had three more, (as well as four digs) in game five.

Robins also served five consecutive points - starting with an ace - as the Wahine broke open the fifth game from a 6-all tie.

Senior hitter Chastity Nobriga also said she felt the heat, but it fired her up, too. She served the final points and made several key plays down the stretch.

"I did feel very pressured (in the fifth game)," Nobriga said. "But we have a team saying,'Pressure is a privilege.' And we deserved that privilege by winning two games earlier."

Nittaidai

		g	k	e	at	pct.	bs	ba	d
Ekuni		5	0	1	3	-.333	0	2	8
Kawano		5	8	2	15	.400	0	2	7
Aoki		4	2	1	5	.200	0	0	4
Itoh		5	27	9	62	.290	0	1	11
Mizumoto	5	10	3	26	.269	0	2	3
Oni		1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Nishimura	5	23	14	67	.134	0	0	16
Momose		5	19	12	55	.127	0	1	9
Sasaki		3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Namura		5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Totals		5	89	42	233	.202	0	8	66

Wahine

		g	k	e	at	pct.	bs	ba	d
Crawford	5	16	3	39	.333	0	2	7
Goods		5	9	5	26	.154	0	9	2
Cordray		1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Yamashita	5	0	0	1	.000	0	0	12
Nobriga		5	9	1	17	.471	1	2	11
Ljungquist	5	18	5	44	.295	3	12	9
Lee		2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Ah Mow		5	5	1	10	.400	4	7	13
Robins		5	22	5	44	.386	1	7	15
Ilustre		5	1	1	3	.000	0	3	6
Totals		5	80	21	184	.321	9	42	76

Service Aces-Nittaidai (6): Ekuni 2, Itoh, Kawano, Momose, Nishimura. UH (4): Crawford, Ilustre, Nobriga, Robins.

Assists-Nittaidai (83): Ekuni 79, Namura 2, Kawano, Sasaki. UH (74): Ah Mow 64, Nobriga 3, Goods 2, Ilustre 2, Robins 2, Crawford.

A-3,702.