If the question was could Hawaii keep up the torrid pace it set in Friday’s season-opening stunner over NCAA champion Texas, the answer was no.

If the question was how efficient could the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine be the following night against UTEP, the answer was more than enough.

The Wahine swept the Miners 25-20, 25-15, 25-10 Saturday in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,082, including Gov. Neil Abercrombie for the second straight night, saw 16 Hawaii players set the stage for coach Dave Shoji to make history.

Tonight at 5, against San Diego, Shoji can tie Andy Banachowski as the winningest coach in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball, with 1,106 victories.

If it happens, Shoji could break the record here Thursday against New Mexico State.

"Andy thought we would lose to Texas, so he’s arriving Thursday about 5 p.m.," Shoji said. "I told him if we beat Texas I’m sending a limo for you."

To get to this point, Hawaii had to get by the Miners, a team it has now hammered 11 straight times.

The match didn’t begin until after 9 p.m., after the Longhorns needed 2 hours and 20 minutes to take down USD. It was the nightcap of a rare doubleheader. The ‘Horns swept UTEP (25-13, 25-19, 25-21) in the morning.

The Miners hung in for most of the opening set against Hawaii, but never led — all night.

"I had some concerns about our energy tonight," Shoji admitted. "We started slow, but worked our way into a pretty good rhythm."

UH freshman Nikki Taylor ended the first set with her fifth kill. By the end of the second, she was 10-for-13 without an error.

The Kaiser graduate didn’t play again, giving her 20 kills and a .679 hitting percentage in her two-match collegiate career.

"Tonight, she was just bigger than them," Shoji said. "She overpowered them."

When Taylor wasn’t blasting the Miners, Emily Hartong was. UH setters Mita Uiato and Tayler Higgins set the All-American 31 times and she launched 14 kills, giving her 1,019 in her career. She became the 18th Wahine to hit 1,000 Friday.

The match ended at 10:26 p.m., with Hawaii outhitting (.474-.162) and outdigging (52-28) the Miners by major margins.

UTEP, set by Punahou graduate Malia Patterson, got nine kills from Talia Jones and eight from Taylor Nix, but little else. The Wahine held Xitlali Herrera, an all-region middle from Juarez, Mexico, to four kills on 26 swings, with four errors.

When it was over, the countdown began — for everyone but Shoji.

"First of all, I want to say it’s going to be a battle tomorrow night," he said. "They (the Toreros) probably should have won against Texas. They let it get away. They didn’t look good on night one, but they sure looked good today and I knew that. They’ve got quality players."

A year ago, the Wahine upset sixth-ranked Stanford opening week and fell on their faces against Cal the next. It probably cost them a chance to host the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament. That memory looms large tonight, along with whatever else happens.

"I think our players will be mature about the match tomorrow night," Shoji said. "They saw San Diego against Texas, so they understand how good San Diego is. There won’t be a letdown there, but San Diego is very difficult to defend, so it’s going to be a battle. It won’t be because we’re not ready if we lose."

No. 1 Texas 3, San Diego 2

Senior All-American Bailey Webster and junior middle Khat Bell each put down 12 kills and the Longhorns avoided being upset for the second straight day by rallying past the Toreros 25-19, 18-25, 25-21, 28-30, 15-10 in the afternoon match.

The defending NCAA champion Longhorns (2-1) swept UTEP earlier Saturday, 25-13, 25-19, 25-21.

The Toreros (1-1) got a match-high 19 kills from senior hitter Taylor Hollins. Senior middle Chloe Ferrari and junior middle Alaysia Brown added 16 kills for USD, which was outblocked 18-10.

Texas coach Jerritt Elliott used a number of younger players early against the Toreros, including freshman setter Chloe Collins when "looking for continuity."

"We were not getting great play from the starters," he said. "I think the team finally started responding (after the Set 3 loss). I got on them pretty hard, told them they needed to start playing at a different level and they responded."

San Diego and No. 11 Hawaii finish out the tournament today with a 5 p.m. start.

Notes

Upsets popped up everywhere Saturday, including eighth-ranked Oregon getting swept by unranked Ohio. The Ducks fell to Texas in the NCAA championship last year. Tenth-ranked Nebraska also lost, to unranked Auburn, and unranked Pacific swept 14th-ranked Michigan State.

Bowling Green dropped 13th-ranked Brigham Young to 1-2 by taking out the Cougars in five. BYU was picked to win the West Coast Conference, just ahead of San Diego.

Former Wahine Jane Croson collected double-doubles in both Arizona matches Saturday, including 20 kills and 10 digs in the Wildcats’ four-set loss to 20th-ranked Kansas in the Arizona Invitational finale.

In the second year of its contract with Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket, the Big West Conference will offer a live broadcast of Hawaii’s volleyball match at Long Beach State Oct. 4. It is scheduled for 5 p.m. Hawaii time. The Big West Women’s Soccer Tournament will also be televised.

Former Wahine Aven Lee is now an assistant coach at Nevada. Lee spent the last four years as an assistant at Nevada. She has also been involved with USA Volleyball. Lee played for Hawaii from 1996 to 2000 and coached juniors here before moving to the mainland.