Somewhat uninspired but absolutely imperturbable, 10th-ranked Hawaii hung another sweep on Portland State at Thursday’s Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Volleyball Challenge.

Behind a huge match from Kalei Adolpho and Emily Hartong’s third double-double of the season, the Rainbow Wahine won, 25-21, 25-20, 25-14.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,138 saw opening night of UH’s third tournament in three weeks. It’s the first without a ranked opponent.

The Wahine (6-1) clearly struggled to find inspiration early in the first two sets. The Vikings (3-5), picked to win the Big Sky again this season, provided the inspiration by taking big leads.

"They can give you a run," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They are good enough to do that, but they shouldn’t be able to sustain that against us. We’re bigger, I think we wear them down eventually. But there were definitely two games we had to grind out."

Hawaii ended the Vikings’ season by similar scores three years ago in the NCAA tournament. The Vikings even look the same, with Garyn Schlatter still setting and another small hitter — now Radford graduate Kaeli Patton — taking the bulk of the swings.

The 5-foot-8 state high jump champion, whose brother Kenny played football for Hawaii, was a defensive specialist last year — with one kill. She came here fourth in the conference in kills (3.54 a set) and eighth in hitting at .297.

"She came in with that ability," said Portland State coach Michael Seemann said. "We’ve had those conversations every year about you’ve got the potential. One of the things I challenged her with at the end of last year was let’s not leave the program still talking about potential, let’s talk about what you’re doing with it."

Patton got nine kills, but finished with eight errors and a .025 percentage. Aubrey Mitchell (seven kills) was the Vikings’ only other reliable option and she wasn’t enough.

"We did this against Washington, we did it against Oregon," Seemann said. "We come out with what I think is a very solid game plan. We execute well, our confidence is high. When we come out, we stay there. I don’t think we ever find another gear. Teams come out against us and I don’t know what they’re expecting, but it seems like other teams have another gear."

Hawaii’s next gear started with Mita Uiato’s setting and often ended with Adolpho. She finished with 10 kills, tying a career high, and dropped in on all six UH stuffs.

"It’s just about not being complacent and coming out to play every night, making that a goal," Adolpho said. "There was not as much hype for this tournament, but knowing it’s going to prepare us for the only tournament that matters, the end of the season … I’m keeping that in mind."

The Wahine dropped into a 13-9 hole in the opening set. At that stage, PSU did not have a hitting error. UH had four — three from freshman Nikki Taylor.

Shoji replaced her with Ginger Long and the Wahine scored 12 of the next 15 points, hitting nearly .500. Tai Manu-Olevao got all three of her kills during the surge and served six straight.

Hawaii suffered another early breakdown in Set 2, falling behind 9-4. This time, it went on a 13-4 run behind Hartong and Ali Longo’s serving.

Adolpho helped the Wahine put it away. She buried her first seven swings. When the Vikings finally dug her, Adolpho stuffed the next three points to make it 20-16 in the second.

"She might be our most improved player," Shoji said of Adolpho. "She is just maturing as a volleyball player. She’s quicker, her arm is faster, she is touching a lot of balls on the block."

The Wahine trailed just once in the final set, with the Vikings giving them six of their first eight points on errors.

Arizona 3, Northwestern 1: Arizona’s Penina Snuka, who set for Kahuku last year, won the battle of Wildcats, 25-22, 25-27, 25-20, 25-19.

Arizona (6-1) played without former Wahine Jane Croson, who didn’t make the trip, while Northwestern (4-3) lost co-captain Katie Dutchman to an ankle injury.