Ready or not, here come the rest of the Western Athletic Conference volleyball teams.

And No. 6 Hawaii might not be 100 percent ready when it hosts the WAC tournament for the first time this week. The second-seeded Rainbow Wahine (23-3) open with Boise State in a quarterfinal Thursday with a big question mark at setter.

Sophomore starter Dani Mafua injured a hamstring in warmups last night, tried to push through the pain, but left early in Set 1. Junior Stephanie Brandt, the starter last season, found her tempo and her serve, finishing with five aces as Hawaii pushed past Utah Valley 25-19, 25-14, 25-10.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,221 (6,221 tickets) saw the Wahine take just 76 minutes to win their 10th straight. There were a few anxious moments, particularly when Hawaii trailed 10-5 in Set 1, and looked bad doing it.

“;I was thinking, 'We'd better turn this around,' “; Hawaii junior middle Amber Kaufman said. “;But we did. We're ready for the WAC.”;

There is concern, though, about how to stay focused and not overlook an opponent. It will be Boise State (9-18) on Thursday; it was Utah Valley (10-12) last night.

“;I don't think our players took them seriously,”; Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “;I watched them in warmups, knew they had some good players.

“;They had one hitter (freshman Kayli Broadbent) that we never did slow down. At 10-5, I thought it might be a long night.”;

Thanks to Hawaii's serving (11 aces) and a rediscovered block - all nine stuffs coming after Set 1 - the Wahine were able to head off to an autograph session early.

Broadbent drove Hawaii's block crazy in the opening set, putting down eight kills with no errors in 12 swings. She finished with just three more kills the rest of the night, partially due to the Wahine's tough serving that kept the Wolverines out of system.

Aneli Cubi-Otineru - who is also nursing an injury - had three consecutive aces to give Hawaii its first lead of the match at 14-13 in Set 1. In Set 2, it was Brandt - who led the Big West in aces as a freshman at UC Santa Barbara - coming on strong. Her 6-0 serving run included an ace as the Wahine went ahead at 7-1.

“;In practice, they gave the 'second team' the green light to bomb away (from the service line),”; Brandt said.

The bombing also came from the front row via freshman hitter Stephanie Ferrell. She finished with nine kills in coming off the bench, “;and she bangs,”; Brandt said. “;She's scary.”;

The young Wolverines, who often had five freshmen on the court, didn't wilt until Set 3. Hawaii led 8-2 - both of Utah Valley's points coming on UH serving errors - and then it was over. Ferrell served for eight in a row to make it 17-2 and it wasn't long before players on both teams were getting postmatch leis.

“;It's amazing, you never receive this anywhere else,”; Utah Valley coach Sam Atoa said. “;To have that aloha spirit, the ohana love, was very touching.”;

Atoa played for Brigham Young-Hawaii in the 1980s, and his team will host the NCAA Division I Independent tournament next week. The Wolverines are hoping to leave their final year as an independent with a second straight title.

“;Hawaii is a very good team, the best team we've played so far,”; Atoa said. “;It will be interesting to see how far they go (in the NCAA tournament).”;

Alumnae split matches

Players representing all four decades of the program had more laughs than kills in the matinee match in which the Green took Set 1 30-26 and the White won Set 2 30-24.

No statistics were taken, but leading service aces was Martina Cincerova-Vernerova, the setter for the 1987 NCAA title team. Cincerova-Vernerova (1985-88), who lives in the Czech Republic, was inside the Sheriff Center for the first time.

“;I love the arena,”; she said, “;but Klum Gym was something special. It had magic.”;

Gifting time

The Wahine received bracelets commemorating the 2007 WAC tournament championship prior to their match with the Wolverines. Also getting bracelets for the 2006 championship were setters Kanoe Kamana'o and Cayley Thurlby.

The Charlie Ushijima Memorial Award went to Joyce Morita for her longtime service to the UH athletic program.