SEATTLE » Santa Clara knew exactly what was coming from eighth-ranked Hawaii on Friday and simply could not stop it.

Jane Croson and Emily Hartong lowered the boom on the Broncos in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship. The Rainbow Wahine stretched their winning streak to 20 with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-19 win at Alaska Airlines Arena.

In the second match, fifth-ranked Washington ended Central Arkansas’ NCAA debut nearly as quickly as UH dispatched SCU, winning 25-13, 25-17, 25-18 before a crowd of 3,588. The Sugar Bears’ finest season ended 30-5.

The Huskies (24-6), seeded 13th in the tournament, play Hawaii (27-2) tonight at 5 p.m. for the right to advance to the Omaha, Neb., regional next week. The winner plays fourth-seeded Nebraska on Friday.

The Wahine have been here before, literally. Two years ago, Washington blasted them in another second-round match in Seattle. That left a lasting impact.

"It was a terrible feeling losing there, so it will be nice for all the girls who have been here as long as I have to go back and play there again," Hartong said Sunday after she heard Hawaii would not host a subregional. "Hopefully we don’t feel the same when we come out of there."

The Big West Player of the Year blasted 17 kills against Santa Clara. Croson was all but untouchable early, getting eight kills in each of the first two sets and finishing with a season-high 22.

"The first two sets they gave me line," Croson said simply. "That’s my best shot, so I took advantage of it."

Over and over again. The Broncos did not/could not block her until the 11th point of the third set. Croson was hitting .600 after the first two and finished at .419, with Hartong .375.

"It kind of went how we thought it would go," Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace said, "but we thought we’d have a little more success slowing down Jane and Emily. They got the ball a lot.

"They are two hitters that are very challenging. They use the block quite a lot and a lot of random-ness comes off of that that we couldn’t get a good bead on. Hawaii did a nice job controlling the match through those two players."

Later, Wallace basically said his team lost to four people — Croson and Hartong, setter Mita Uiato ("because she knew to go to them") and libero Ali Longo (17 digs), who was instrumental in UH out-digging the Broncos 51-40.

There were more. Jade Vorster was in on all but two of the Wahine’s eight stuffs and Ashley Kastl joined her four times. Kastl was the starting right-side hitter of the moment and also had five kills, but UH coach Dave Shoji used all three in the opening set and subbed often.

This looked much like a Big West match, only the Wahine started well and simply got better when Santa Clara (20-12) had no answer. Hawaii hit a season-best .677 in the second set, going without a hitting error.

"Jane and Emily really had great nights," Shoji said. "We felt like we were better at the pins than they were and it turned out that was true. We served tough and kind of took them out their offense. I felt pretty good about our effort tonight."

Still, he knows his team will have to play dramatically better tonight. Against SCU, the Wahine had 100 fans and three Hawaiian flags and owned the momentum early.

It will be very different tonight, with a few thousand UW fans and the country’s best blocker (UCLA transfer Amanda Gil) waiting. The Huskies also celebrated the return of Krista Vansant, their best offensive weapon, on Friday. She had been out with an injured ankle since Nov. 16.

Asked what more UH will have to do to reverse the 2010 result, Hartong basically listed every aspect of the game, emphasizing passing and balance.

Shoji was more specific, zeroing in on Washington’s vaunted blocking system and a certain 6-foot-6 senior.

"We have to hit smart tomorrow," he said. "We have to stay away from Amanda Gil. They do have some shorter players. They are athletic, but we’re going to need to attack some of their pin players. Vansant is big (6-2), but the others are about the same size as us. We have to hit smartly and take advantage of anything they give us."

There were seven ties in the opening set before UH got hot and Croson scored four of the final seven points. The Wahine blasted at will in the second and broke away mid-set in the third.

Earlier in the week, Wallace had a feeling Hawaii would be trouble.

"I’m still amazed at why Hawaii is 26-2 and not in the top 15," Wallace said. "How does that happen?"

From the moment it did, the Wahine have wanted a date with the destiny they have desired for precisely two years. Hawaii, denied a home match seven straight years despite a top-16 seeding, had beaten four home teams in the second round by the time it got to Seattle in 2010. It did not come close against the Huskies.

"We played very poorly the last time we were here, not up to our capabilities," Shoji said. "Washington had a lot to do with it. They had a great team, like they do now. There are four or five girls who were there two years ago and we remember. We think we’re better now, so we think we have a chance."