Bam!

Those fatigued Hawaii volleyball players running on fumes while they finished off a flawless road trip Monday found a second wind in Manoa last night.

The fifth-ranked Rainbow Wahine (20-1, 10-0) ran their winning streak to 15 with a convincing 25-15, 25-13, 25-18 Western Athletic Conference victory over Boise State.

"I think we realized we don’t have many games left in the season and we’re really trying to come out and get ready for playoffs and prepare ourselves," said UH freshman Emily Hartong, who had five kills from the middle and four more in the final set from the outside. "Play each game harder and harder."

The Broncos (17-10, 4-7), desperately chasing a WAC tournament berth, didn’t play poorly before 4,792 at Stan Sheriff Center. Still, they had no shot at ending a conference winning streak that is now at 35, or a set streak that’s up to a national-best 38.

"Hawaii just didn’t give us many opportunities out there," BSU coach Shawn Garus said. "I thought they played fantastic, especially in the second set. We made a lot of good plays and everything seemed to go Hawaii’s way. … Hawaii is a special team."

The Rainbow Wahine warmed up for tomorrow’s showdown with New Mexico State with a sizzling start, then let setter Dani Mafua throw the playbook at Boise State. All the starting hitters got at least 11 swings and eight players had kills as Hawaii out-hit BSU .366-.103.

UH All-American Kanani Danielson finished with a match-high 15 kills and another majestic corner-to-corner backset. The second set ended with her falling back into the scorer’s table on the left and slapping the ball just over the net into the right corner.

Senior libero Elizabeth Ka’aihue collected 20 of her team’s 51 digs — some of the ridiculous variety as she

brought balls up with fists and forearms.

"Liz was making really outstanding plays," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Anything on that left side of the court is not going down now."

Boise State, which has lost its last four, came out composed and swinging away, just the way it wanted. But after a series of high-energy rallies, the Broncos looked up and found themselves down 5-1.

That’s the way the night went.

"In Game 1, I think they made one hitting error," Shoji said. "What that translates into is we were playing great defense. They didn’t help us. We had to earn the points, which is what we want to do."

The Broncos’ deficit increased to 12-4 when Danielson served six straight. Boise was not going to catch up, despite getting eight points on UH errors.

Hartong buried all four of her swings in the first set, while Danielson had five kills in each set. The Wahine had just one block in the opener, but dug 14 balls — twice as many as the Broncos — with Emily Maeda grabbing five in the opening flurry.

There was no letdown in the second. Hawaii scored six of the first eight, with Mafua finding everyone. The block zeroed in, rejecting five Boise shots. The Broncos hit .000 — 7 kills, 7 errors.

Nothing much changed in the final set. The Wahine were home and happy.

"It’s nice; we could let go and relax for a little while after that Utah game (Monday)," Ka’aihue said. "It’s always nice to be home."

After growing up with the Wahine tradition, and now experiencing it for nearly four years, Ka’aihue is well aware of what all this means in Hawaii.

"It’s the history," she said. "It’s such an awesome program to be playing for. We want to show up for all the women who have played in the past, our fans are great and we have family here."

Note

» Hawaii played with pink volleyballs last night and will again tomorrow, for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The six volleyballs will be auctioned off much like the pink uniforms were auctioned last year. That raised $8,000.