COURTESY OF TONY AVELAR Hawaii outside hitter Jamie Houston spiked the ball past San Jose State blocker Kari Anglin last night.

Houston moves up in sweep

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SAN JOSE, Calif. » Coming into last night's volleyball match, Jamie Houston needed only three kills to move into the Top 10 on Hawaii's career list.

The junior left-side hitter got that and more, putting down 24 kills, as the Rainbow Wahine concluded their first road trip of the season with a 30-17, 30-25, 30-21 sweep of San Jose State. Sophomore left-side hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru added 16 kills as Hawaii (11-3, 5-0 WAC) took 90 minutes to defeat the Spartans (6-7, 0-2) for the 57th time, the most victories over any opponent.

Houston had just one hitting error, that coming early in Game 2 after she had already put down 11 kills. She finished hitting .605, just off her career-best .632 during her freshman year.

"This was a huge match for her," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "Jamie has struggled, been up and down all season. Tonight, she was a different player."

Houston, named the WAC Player of the Week earlier yesterday, moved past Karrie Trieschman (1,232) into 10th on the UH kill list with 1,254. She needs 13 to move ahead of Diana Jessie (1,266) for ninth.

Also yesterday, Hawaii remained 13th in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25. Nebraska, receiving 55 first-place votes, stayed at No. 1.

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PHOTO COURTESY TONY AVELAR Hawaii outside hitter Jamie Houston had six digs last night against San Jose State.

SAN JOSE, Calif. » There was no letdown after Saturday's big win at New Mexico State.

And Jamie Houston never let up while playing one of her most consistent matches last night.

Hours after being named the conference player of the week, Houston made a strong bid to repeat next week. The junior left-side hitter was nearly perfect, putting down a match-high 24 kills with just one error, to lead No. 13 Hawaii to a 30-17, 30-25, 30-21 victory over San Jose State.

The Rainbow Wahine, concluding their first road trip with three wins in five days, improved to 11-3 overall and 5-0 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Spartans slipped to 6-7 and 0-2.

"Jamie was totally under control tonight," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said after his team's eighth straight victory. "She made really good decisions, knew when to go for it and when to keep the ball in play.

"I thought it was her best match of the year. She just totally put everything together."

Houston, who hit .605, had plenty of help. Sophomore left-side hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru added 16 kills, hitting .351, and freshman libero Elizabeth Ka'aihue finished with 16 digs.

Hawaii also finished with a 10-2 edge in blocks, with senior middle Juliana Sanders in on four and Amber Kaufman and Houston in on three. San Jose State didn't record a block until Keri Anglin and Courtney Zellmer teamed to block Cubi-Otineru to pull the Spartans to 17-15 in Game 3.

The Wahine hit .325 for the night. The key to his hitters' success was "they hit intelligently," Shoji said. "Our hitters hit all the seams.

"It feels good to be 3-0 on the trip. To win that match Saturday (in five at New Mexico State) and to come back and have a strong match was big.

"Saturday proved a lot to us, that we had the fortitude to finish the match. I was worried about tonight, concerned that we had emotionally spent everything (Saturday). But obviously, we played very well."

Niki Clement led the Spartans with 13 kills and 14 digs. Jennifer Senftleben rebounded from a slow start in Game 1 (two kills) to finish with 11 kills and 10 digs.

Spartans sophomore libero Kristal Tsukano (Kamehameha '06) added 12 digs. Freshman hitter Brianna Amian (Moanalua '07) had no kills on six attempts.

First-year Spartans coach Oscar Crespo found a bright spot in his defense that was only out-dug 50-47.

"We stayed with Hawaii on the court and played much better defensively tonight," he said.

The Wahine set the tone for their first sweep of the trip by opening up leads of 7-3, 15-8 and 21-11 in Game 1. The Spartans never got closer than eight the rest of the way, with Ka'aihue acing Tsukano to end it.

San Jose State took its first lead of the match at 7-6 in Game 2 only to have Hawaii counter. The Wahine pulled away for good on a 5-1 run, capped by an ace from Kaufman, who was playing in front of hometown fans.

The Spartans hung around in Game 3, closing to 17-15. Cubi-Otineru had three of her kills in a 5-0 spurt and the Wahine were never threatened the rest of the way.

"In terms of preparation and execution, this was one of the best efforts of the year," Shoji said. "Everyone did what they needed to do.

"Houston and Aneli took care of our offense and (Tara) Hittle played very well in the back row. Our passing ... it's coming along. We made progress on this trip."

Hawaii returns to the Stan Sheriff Center for matches Oct. 5 against Nevada and Oct. 7 against Fresno State. Four road matches follow, at Boise State, Idaho, Utah State and No. 1 Nebraska.

WAC standings

Yesterday
Hawaii def. San Jose State, 30-17, 30-25, 30-21

Next Hawaii matches
Oct. 5: Nevada, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Oct. 7: Fresno State, 5 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

Hawaii def. San Jose St.

Rainbow Wahine (5-0)

Spartans (0-2)

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- Hawaii (4): Kaufman 2, Cubi-Otineru, Kaaihue. SJSU (2): Burke, C., Zellmer. Assists -- Hawaii (50): Brandt 42, Kaaihue 2, Mafua 2, Sanders, Hittle, Houston, Lee. SJSU(36): Zellmer 25, Burke, E. 4, Anglin 2, Tsukano 2, Amian, Senftleben, Julian.

T -- 1:30. Officials -- Eric Asami, Lara Donaldson. A -- 823.