GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Jamie Houston put down a kill against Idaho's Sarah Loney in Hawaii's win in the WAC opener last night.

Hawaii opens in style

Can't always get what you want?

Not so for the No. 7 Hawaii volleyball team.

Led by freshman Kanani Herring's match-high 22 kills and 20 from senior hitter Jamie Houston, the Rainbow Wahine turned back Idaho last night in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams, 27-29, 25-21, 25-16, 25-14.

It was the seventh consecutive win for Hawaii (8-2, 1-0 WAC) which hosts Boise State (2-7, 1-0) tonight at 7.

"We've got to come out faster tomorrow," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Boise had a nice win at San Jose State (Thursday) and they'll be feeling pretty confident.

"We need to play well right from the start."

Hawaii ran its record to 9-0 against the Vandals.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Nickie Thomas of Hawaii went up for a kill against Debbie Pederson of Idaho during last night's match.

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The Rainbow Wahine dropped Set 1 with their junior outside hitter on the bench with a broken nose.

Bring her back in and Cubi-Otineru, wearing a protective mask, gave No. 7 Hawaii the lift it needed to win last night's Western Athletic Conference opener.

Cubi-Otineru had only eight kills and two aces in the final three sets, but her overall presence helped the Wahine to a 27-29, 25-21, 25-16, 25-14 victory over the Vandals at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Freshman hitter Kanani Herring had a match-high 22 kills and senior hitter Jamie Houston added 20 kills to give Hawaii (8-2, 1-0) a seven-match winning streak heading into tonight's WAC match with Boise State (2-7, 1-0).

"We've got to come out faster tomorrow," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We've got to start playing right from the start.

"Tonight, we didn't convert any of the off-plays. In terms of emotion, you could almost predict how we'd come out."

Shoji couldn't predict that his team might be without Cubi-Otineru, who took an elbow to the nose from junior middle Amber Kaufman late in practice Thursday.

"I had hoped we could get by without her," Shoji said. "She was in a lot of pain.

"But the team wasn't in sync to start. We had to bring her back in."

Despite struggling in Set 1, the Wahine nearly pulled it out. Herring's kill made it 25-24, but the Vandals hung in, taking their own set point at 27-26 on one of Haley Larsen's 16 kills.

Amber Kaufman tied it at 27, only to have a hitting error by Stephanie Ferrell and a kill by Anna McKinney give Idaho the set.

Enter Cubi-Otineru, who wasn't spectacular but helped the Wahine settle down. Her passing allowed the Wahine to get back into system, with Herring able to put down three kills in giving Hawaii set point in Set 2.

Kaufman and Jessica Keefe teamed to stuff Sarah Conwell to tie the match. It was all but over after the break, with the Wahine finishing it out in 1 hour and 59 minutes.

"It was distracting and hard," Cubi-Otineru said of wearing her protective gear. "But you get used to it.

"I was just trying not to sneeze."

Instead, the Wahine blew by the Vandals with a multi-pronged attack. Kaufman and Nickie Thomas each had 10 kills for Hawaii. Herring notched her fifth double-double with 17 digs.

"We were pretty good for two games," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "We were doing the right things. But they got better in the final two games and we didn't.

"They seem more physical than last year. They're definitely a better serving team. And Kanani was solid tonight."

"Idaho is a good team," Herring said. "We didn't put out tonight and we need to be ready to go.

"We need to block better. We're still working on it."

Hawaii didn't have a block until Set 2. The Vandals won that battle 9.5-7.5.

" We could have been down 2-0 easily," Shoji said. "We started serving better. We didn't have much of a middle attack and we are not a good blocking team at this point."