Volleyball’s season opener was all the Rainbow Wahine could ask for, from the sweep of San Francisco all the way to the glitches that would have been dangerous against an opponent that won more than five matches last season.

Tenth-ranked Hawaii started with a 25-22, 25-12, 25-23 win Friday in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational. Earlier, Arizona took out Wichita State, 25-14, 25-21, 25-20.

A crowd of 5,101 (6,252 tickets sold) watched at Stan Sheriff Center.

Most saw what they came to see, as Hawaii scored 15 of the season’s first 20 points before USF got in the game. But when the Dons — who left two of their best recruits home because of eligibility problems — stopped giving up points, they found some Wahine weak spots.

"The coaches were saying it’s almost a good thing we didn’t play perfectly," said UH sophomore Emily Hartong, who had eight kills and hit .538. "Now we know what we need to fix and we can do that."

Communication was a problem at times, and Hawaii didn’t have a block against a very unbalanced offense until the middle of the second set. It barely touched USF’s Jocelyn Levig, an Oregon transfer, and Valentia Zaloznik, a 6-foot-4 Slovenian freshman. They combined for 22 of the Dons’ 31 kills. Setter Joan Caloiaro added five more as the rest of the team hit negative .162.

"We should have been stacking our block against the two of them and doing a better job on them," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We didn’t do a good job."

They did a better job in many other phases of the game. USF coach Gilad Doron raved about Hawaii’s serving — "They put tons of pressure on us" — and also liked UH’s middle and the new dimension freshman Jane Croson brings.

New libero Emily Maeda had a match-high 15 digs, anchoring a defense that was often spectacular.

New setter Mita Uiato helped Hawaii hit .307 — .458 in Set 2 — and although Shoji had some problems with her location and choices, he was happy.

Croson (11 kills) came on with All-American Kanani Danielson (13) to lead UH in kills after a first set that saw them both shut out. Maybe more critical, Croson looked extremely comfortable passing the ball. She was far from perfect, but she never backed off.

"She’s been through a bunch of games at a high level," Shoji said. "Tonight was not overwhelming."

The quantity of serves Croson found coming at her was also not surprising.

"I knew a lot of balls were going to come to me," she said. "Kanani … of course they won’t serve her."

Hartong and Brittany Hewitt combined for 11 kills in the opening set. Hawaii needed them all when Levig and Zaloznik, with a huge assist from libero Rebecca Kopilovitch, dragged the Dons on a 16-8 surge to cut the gap to 23-21.

Balance returned in the second set and the Dons did not come close to making another run. A blocking flurry — six stuffs in the space of nine points — put Hawaii ahead 13-10 in the final set. The Dons cut their deficit to one on five occasions before Hartong’s kill ended it after 1 hour and 35 minutes.

"When we were struggling, we worked it out," Croson said. "I was really proud of that."

In the opener, Arizona scored 15 of the first 19 points. The Shockers, who went to their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament last year, made their only move in the final set, tying it at 18 before the Wildcats closed it out.

Arizona freshman Madison Kingdon led all attackers with 12 kills. Arizona out-hit the Shockers by 103 points (.297-.194).

Notes

» Danielson is one of 30 volleyball student-athletes named as candidates for the 2011 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible, student-athletes must be NCAA Division I seniors who have "notable achievements" in "community, classroom, character and competition."

The three-time All-American is an interdisciplinary studies major. CLASS stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.

» Four-time defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Penn State lost to unranked Oregon on Friday in four sets. Second-ranked USC needed five to beat 12th-ranked Minnesota and fifth-ranked Nebraska also needed five to beat New Mexico State, at the Lobo Classic in Albuquerque.

» Anonymous donors presented the largest donation in the history of Wahine athletics Friday night when a check for $875,000 was given to the women’s volleyball, basketball and softball programs. A logo for the 40th anniversary of Rainbow Wahine athletics, combining rainbow colors and the current "H," was also unveiled.

» Installation of a new scoreboard and other digital equipment kept the Rainbow Wahine out of Stan Sheriff Center until this week.

Total cost of the project is approximately $2 million, according to UH.

There is a new main LED scoreboard with four high-definition video boards that will show live game action, replays, statistics and promotions. New digital basketball shot clocks, locker room game clocks and a revamped master control room are all part of the project.