There is depth. And then there is Hawaii volleyball.

With three starters - including the starting setter - on the bench nursing various ailments the Rainbow Wahine still swept San Jose State 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 in California last night.

Redshirt freshman Stephanie Ferrell put down a team-high 10 kills as No. 7 Hawaii (12-2, 5-0 Western Athletic Conference) won its 11th straight. Newly named WAC player of the week Jamie Houston added nine kills for Hawaii.

The Rainbow Wahine switched out setters (Dani Mafua for Stephanie Brandt) and liberos (Tara Hittle for Elizabeth Ka'aihue).

It didn't matter.

“;With all the injuries we had and all the people who were sick ... we were able to play through it,”; Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “;We have depth and we have veteran players out there.

“;We weren't real sharp. But part of that is being on the road as long as we have been.”;

Hawaii has been on the road since last Tuesday, a trip on which the Wahine have racked up three victories in five days in claiming the lead in the WAC standings. The quirky conference schedule has UH idle until Oct. 10, when the Wahine host Louisiana Tech.

The break comes at an opportune time for Hawaii, which has three players on the mend: junior hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru (broken nose, flu), sophomore setter Mafua (flu) and freshman hitter Kanani Herring (sprained ankle).

That junior setter Brandt was out on the court at Spartan Gym instead of Mafua was not a concern for Shoji. Brandt was the starting setter for most of last season and earned All-WAC honors.

With Brandt running the offense, Hawaii hit .317.

The circumstances also allowed for sophomore libero Ka'aihue to ease back into her position after missing 10 matches with a knee sprain. She had 10 digs, as did Brandt.

Herring, playing only in the back row, had a match-high 11 digs. Hittle, in her first start at hitter since last season, added eight kills.

Senior hitter Kelly Crow led the Spartans (6-9, 2-3) with 10 kills. Junior libero Kristal Tsukano (Kamehameha '06) had 10 digs and sophomore hitter Brianna Amian (Moanalua '07) had eight kills.

Hawaii had few challenges last night.

It was 15-15 in Set 1 when the Wahine made a decisive run, helped by an ace by Hittle, to surge to a 20-15 lead. A kill by Ferrell and a block of Niki Clement by Amber Kaufman and Brandt finished it.

Ka'aihue's 4-0 serving run in Set 2 gave the Wahine a 10-5 lead and the Spartans never got closer than three. The last was 22-19 before Hawaii closed it out with a 3-1 run on two kills by Nickie Thomas and one by Ferrell.

The Spartans rallied from 21-14 to 22-19, helped by two kills from Crow.

Kaufman's final kill jump-started a 3-1 spurt that sent the Wahine home with their third straight road victory.