Technically, what you see from the Rainbow Wahine tonight against San Jose State and Sunday against Utah State is pretty much what you will get the rest of the season. Tenth-ranked Hawai'i can throw in some wrinkles, but its style is basically etched in volleyball stone at this juncture.

What can change the final five weeks of the season, and already has — radically — is Hawai'i's focus .

The 'Bows utterly failed in that critical phase in their only loss the last nine weeks, at then-top-ranked Nebraska. Since, improvement has been palpable, never more so than last week's trip that ended with more than half the team playing through a mysterious stomach ailment.

A bug that had players running to the restroom at timeouts and vomiting in a pregame meeting, and left head coach Dave Shoji back in Reno, Nev., while his team flew to Fresno, Calif., was a test of will the Rainbows passed with amazing aplomb.

The illness started with Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Jessica Keefe and Amanda Simmons Thursday morning and passed through a dozen people by the time Hawai'i had swept Nevada and Fresno State Friday night. Associate coach Mike Sealy recalls counting healthy bodies by position with co-associate Kari Ambrozich Friday, based on who was sick and the "seven-hour window" when they absolutely could not play.

Freshman libero Liz Ka'aihue, someone they thought would not be able to play in Fresno, ultimately was the key when she refused to sit out. Her loss would have necessitated a dramatic lineup change. Instead, little changed aside from a drop in decibels.

"We've been training to play through anything, but this was bad," setter Stephanie Brandt said. "We didn't have the normal energy. We were trying, but it was just a very quiet focus — get through the game, do what you have to do to get out."

Feeling its worst, UH played one of its most efficient matches, averaging more than 20 digs a game, going all night without a reception error and out-hitting FSU by 100 points.

"I always knew they were tough, but they really showed me how tough they were," Sealy said. "It does help that we are on the road constantly. We're always jet-lagged. The girls are always feeling a little off. Any other team that doesn't travel like we do ... if they had all those people ill to that extent, they would have lost. ... Aneli set a great example. Once she played so well against Nevada, they all played up to what she had done the night before."

San Jose State (13-13, 7-8 WAC) has won six of its last eight. Spartan starters include 2007 Moanalua graduate Brianna Amian, who tied a school record with 14 block assists against USF, and 2006 Kamehameha graduate Kristal Tsukano, who is sixth in WAC digs.

NOTES

The conference has swapped the brackets for next week's WAC Tournament so host New Mexico State can play the feature match at night. Top-seeded Hawai'i will play the 2:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. HST) match next Thursday, against the winner of the 9:30 a.m. match between the eighth- and ninth-seeded teams — Boise State and Louisiana Tech.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.