GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM UH's Juliana Sanders tried to put the ball past Louisiana Tech's Ambra Hayes and KC Clayton.

UH rolls over LaTech

The emotion will come tomorrow, when playing for the league title, home-court pride and the seniors.

Last night was about being efficient without trying to look ahead, not an easy task when facing the bottom team in the Western Athletic Conference. But No. 14 Hawaii got through the night quickly, 80 minutes of "Don't think about New Mexico State" until Cayley Thurlby and Caroline Blood stuffed Shannon Phillips on aloha ball for a 30-16, 30-15, 30-21 victory over Louisiana Tech.

NOW the Rainbow Wahine (22-5, 12-1) can think about the 20th-ranked Aggies (29-1, 12-1) and their 5 p.m. battle tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"I think tonight was about having fun and keeping the energy up," said Thurlby, used as hitter for two games and setting Game 3. "Maybe tonight was the night to think about the seniors so that tomorrow we can think about New Mexico State. Everyone got to contribute and, from a team aspect, it was a good effort."

Thurlby is one of three seniors who'll play her final regular-season match at home tomorrow. Last night's crowd of 5,076 (7,041 tickets) saw the trio put in solid performances: Thurlby with 14 assists, two kills and two blocks; setter Kanoe Kamana'o 17 assists, six digs and two blocks; and outside hitter Sarah Mason eight kills and two blocks.

Leading Hawaii's offense was its future: sophomore hitter Jamie Houston, 17 kills to go along with 11 digs, and junior middle Juliana Sanders, nine kills in addition to five blocks.

"I'd give us a 'B' tonight," Houston said. "Our passing was OK, not as good as it could have been. Our blocking was good, not as good as it should have been."

Those are two things the team will work on during this morning's practice. The Aggies, who arrived Thursday, practice at noon.

"We wanted to play an efficient match," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said, using all 14 players last night, including sophomore defensive specialist Makana Recca for the first time "We didn't want to show (New Mexico State) a whole lot, so we kept it simple.

"Our biggest concern about Sunday? Passing is our concern every night. They serve very tough. The loss (at New Mexico State on Oct. 13) definitely gave us a wake-up call. But I think we would have had a wake-up call even if we had won."

But Hawaii didn't, seeing its conference winning streak end at 114, the first WAC loss since 1998. Last night, the Wahine were never in danger of not extending their new streak to five with the sweep of the Lady Techsters (6-24, 0-13).

LaTech threatened briefly at the start of Game 1 and against a revamped Hawaii lineup in Game 3. The Techsters were never in danger of missing their 10:30 p.m. flight.

Tech's last two losses have come against Hawaii and New Mexico State. Coach Heather Mazeitis didn't want to compare the Wahine and the Aggies other than to say her team played better at NMSU on Wednesday.

"I think they're very similar teams," she said. "It's going to be a battle."

LaTech hit negative .047 last night, with Phillips putting down a team-high nine kills. The Techsters outblocked the Wahine 5-4 in Game 3, with Hawaii holding the final edge of 11-9.5.