For sheer entertainment value, Nevada provided a show in last night’s Western Athletic Conference volleyball match against fifth-ranked Hawaii. In terms of creating drama, the Wolf Pack came up a bit short.

The Rainbow Wahine (12-1, 2-0 WAC) ran their winning streak to seven with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 victory before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,811.

The teams combined for 93 digs in a 90-minute match made for fans who like their volleyball low to the ground. Hawaii’s Elizabeth Ka’aihue, who has been averaging a phenomenal five digs a set the past week, kicked it up a notch. The senior libero dug up 12 balls in the opening set and finished with a season-high 22.

"She’s always there," UH freshman Emily Hartong shrugged. "She’ll do anything to touch the ball."

Nevada (6-7, 0-1), with four players from Hawaii, matched the UH defense much of the night. It could not keep up offensively, getting out-hit .283 to .167 in losing its fourth straight.

Nevada found no answer for Hartong. She buried her first five swings and finished with 11 kills in 14 tries, hitting an outrageous .714.

"She is a great hitter," Ka’aihue said. "Hartong is so quick she always makes herself available for Dani (Mafua). I’m not surprised."

Hartong’s performance made Nevada coach Devin Scruggs happy her team is leaving the WAC.

"I don’t get to see her another three years," Scruggs said. "That’s great. Hopefully I don’t have to see her next year."

The Wahine also got 12 kills from All-American Kanani Danielson and nine more from Chanteal Satele. A night after stuffing eight balls in a sweep of Utah State, sophomore middle Brittany Hewitt was in on four of Hawaii’s seven stuffs and had three of UH’s four aces.

Lindsay Baldwin and Saint Francis graduate Kylie Harrington had eight kills apiece for Nevada, leaving Harrington two shy of 1,000 for her career. Wolf Pack setter Tatiana Santiago, a Kamehameha graduate, surpassed 1,000 assists last night.

It wasn’t nearly enough for a Wolf Pack team that came with game and never let the Wahine get too far away — after the opening moments.

Hawaii scored the first six points of the match. It would have been seven, but a Hewitt ace was called out.

"I was a little concerned about our offense because we were passing OK and couldn’t put a ball away," Scruggs said. "That was kind of the theme of the night."

But the ace reprieve seemed to revive the Wolf Pack. They closed slowly but surely, pulling to 16-15 with a three-point run. That began with a spectacular and ridiculously long rally that had fans standing and coaches laughing out loud before it was over.

UH coach Dave Shoji called the endless rally a "pillow fight" at the end since players had no legs left to rise up and hit down. Still, it served to make Scruggs sad that this could be her last conference trip to paradise.

"Being able to play in this kind of atmosphere is unlike anywhere else," said Scruggs, who played here during her career at Pacific. "To have the crowd as excited and cheering at that long rally when we won it was pretty special. That was a really, really long rally. That will be on the highlight tape for sure."

But Hawaii answered with four straight points, and the threat was over. The Wahine, with Ka’aihue diving for multiple saves on single points, collected a remarkable 28 digs in the set.

The second was more of the same, as Hawaii scored four of the first five and was up 15-6 by the time Satele was done serving four straight. The Pack would score in spurts, but could get no closer than four.

Neither coach called a timeout until late in the final set, when the Wahine moved Hartong outside and brought in Alexis Forsythe. Nevada closed to 21-19 before Hawaii finished it.

"They were in the match," Shoji said of Nevada. "We never really dominated them. If we play the same match up in Reno it will be close."

Notes

» The Wahine go on the road for the first time, playing at New Mexico State on Wednesday in a match that will be shown on ESPNU (4 p.m. Hawaii time). They go to Louisiana Tech on Friday before returning. Their next home match is Oct. 15 against San Jose State.

» Hawaii is 34-1 against Nevada, winning every match but the first the teams played, in 1992. The Wolf Pack was picked to finish seventh by WAC coaches.