Nevada no match for No. 12 Hawaii

New month, but nothing new when it came to the outcome.

After three weeks without a home match, the 12th-ranked Hawaii volleyball team made a successful return to the Stan Sheriff Center last night. The Rainbow Wahine, getting 16 kills from Jamie Houston and 13 from Tara Hittle, ran their winning streak to nine in sweeping Nevada 30-13, 30-25, 30-19.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,149 (6,744 tickets) saw a few notable accomplishments during the 90 minutes. Houston moved past Diana Jessie and into ninth place on the school's kill list (1,270) and Hittle -- with just one hitting error -- shattered her career hitting percentage with a .706.

Hawaii improved to 12-3 overall, 6-0 in Western Athletic Conference play, in defeating the Wolf Pack for the 27th consecutive time. Nevada, losing for the first time in four matches, dropped to 7-7 and 4-3.

"We've been working on our game, want to keep getting better, no matter who we play," said Houston, who had just three hitting errors, none in Game 2, when she put down six kills in 11 swings. "I thought Hittle's hitting was exceptional.

"It was a pretty good match for us. But we need to keep pressing on."

The next chance is tomorrow with a 5 p.m. match against Fresno State (4-13, 2-5).

Nevada coach Devin Scruggs was disappointed in her team's overall performance and lack of confidence. The Wolf Pack never got completely on track, not even when taking leads in Game 2.

"I never felt like we were in control. We never played the way we know we can play," she said. "We were always adjusting to them instead of playing Nevada volleyball.

"We made (Hawaii) look pretty good, but we didn't even play close to the way we can play, nothing like we played in our last three matches. It wasn't so much what Hawaii did but what we didn't do. And Houston and Hittle -- they hit it at a much higher pace than anyone in the conference."

At times it appeared the two Wahine had a competition going, not just to see who had the fewer hitting errors, but who knocked over the most Nevada players. There were a number of "that will leave a mark" kills.

"Hawaii just has so many weapons," Scruggs added. "Hittle, Houston, (Juliana) Sanders. And Aneli (Cubi-Otineru) didn't even play well (seven kills, hitting .000). When you have a player like (senior middle) Kari Gregory coming off the bench, that tells you the kind of depth they have."

Fourteen of the 16 healthy Wahine saw the court, while Scruggs used 11. Karly Sipherd led Nevada with nine kills on a night when the team hit just .120.

"I thought it was a fun match, with some good rallies and some well-played points," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "The one encouraging thing was Hittle's night. She's been struggling offensively.

"Statistically, it was probably our best match of the year passing. And I thought our serving was very good in Game 1. We know Nevada will play better when we see them in Nevada (Nov. 1)."

Nevada regrouped from a forgettable Game 1 -- which wasn't as close as the final score -- and hung tough until late in Game 2. Hittle's first hitting error in 11 swings helped the Wolf Pack close to 26-24 only to have Hawaii finish it out on a 4-1 run, including Stephanie Brandt's reflex dig that fell in for a kill.

The Wahine controlled Game 3 despite numerous substitutions. Scruggs said the only surprising thing that Hawaii did was when freshman setter Dani Mafua dumped on match point to end it.