Two weeks left in the regular season and several questions remain, the most intriguing being: When Hawaii next takes the Stan Sheriff Center court, will it be as conference champion, co-champion or runner-up?

The eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine did their part to stay on track for at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference title last night, sweeping Utah State 25-19, 25-14, 25-13 in 70 minutes. A crowd of 4,133 (6,094 tickets) saw senior Jamie Houston turn in her second dominating performance in as many nights with 13 kills, hitting .500, to lead Hawaii to its sixth straight victory.

“;We've played some good volleyball teams and they're better than anyone we've seen,”; Utah State coach Grayson DuBose said. “;Their ball control is getting better and better. We tried to keep them out of system, but we couldn't do it.

“;And Houston is playing like a senior. She has a ton of range and a lot of shots.”;

Houston wasn't the only one doing damage. Freshman hitter Kanani Danielson came on strong at the end, with four kills and no errors in her last five swings to finish with seven. And middles—senior Nickie Thomas and junior Amber Kaufman—combined for 12 kills on 22 attempts with only one error by Thomas.

Stephanie Ferrell came off the bench in Set 3, her performance mirroring that of Hawaii's in the final 15 minutes. Ferrell had no errors on nine attempts, putting down six kills. The Wahine, siding out at 100 percent (the Aggies unable to score more than a point at a time) had no hitting errors in Set 3, with 18 kills on 31 swings.

Hawaii hit a season-high .458 to Utah State's .159.

The Wahine also got five aces, three by Kaufman, to improve to 19-3 overall, 12-1 in the WAC. They have a half-game lead over New Mexico State (17-7, 11-1) but also fewer matches remaining than the Aggies; Hawaii finishes on the road against Boise State, Idaho and Fresno State, while New Mexico State travels to Nevada and Fresno State and hosts Utah State and San Jose State.

Should both teams win out, they'll share the WAC title, a first for the Aggies in their four years of membership. New Mexico State, however, would have the top seed in the WAC tournament based on the better set-differential against third-place Idaho.

But what matters now to Hawaii is to continue to get better heading into the WAC tournament. One thing the Wahine did last night was focus in Set 2 without having a letdown.

“;We've been having trouble with that second game and it was nice to get over that,”; Thomas said.

The Wahine also were able to put last season's loss to the Aggies in the Sheriff Center behind them.

“;We were kind of playing with a chip on our shoulder,”; Ferrell said. “;We remembered the loss. There's pride. We were playing to get better and playing to beat them.”;

Melissa Osterloh led the Aggies with six kills. The Wahine outdug the Aggies 41-25, led by Danielson's 12 and Tara Hittle's 11.

“;I thought we served tough and they weren't able to run their offense,”; Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “;Once they had no middle attack, their fast attack was negated.

“;It felt good tonight, felt pretty smooth. It was a good way to end the home stand (with four wins).”;