Nearly fit for the proverbial toe tag, the University of Hawaii volleyball team surged back for a 16-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-12 victory over Brigham Young on Friday night.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,501 watched the Rainbow Warriors improve to 14-10 overall and 12-9 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. In the process, they also moved into an eighth-place tie with UCLA. The top eight teams qualify for the MPSF playoffs.

The second-ranked Cougars, whose winning streak ended at six matches, fell to 18-5 and 18-3, missing a chance to clinch the league’s regular-season title outright.

The Cougars were coasting, thanks largely to the Warriors’ implosion from the service area.

In the intermission between the second and third sets, the players took charge.

"We went in there as a team and talked amongst ourselves and kind of figured it out on our own," middle blocker Nick West said. "Obviously, we had to serve better. Our serving was atrocious the first two sets."

The Warriors committed 27 overall errors in the first two sets.

"That’s 13 and a half per set," UH coach Charlie Wade said. "You can’t beat anybody in our league with that."

But Wade noted the Warriors were able to slow All-America outside hitter Taylor Sander, who was converting only 11 percent of his attacks in the first set.

"We just weren’t executing on our side," Wade said.

Despite committing nine more service errors in the third set, the Warriors tried to force the Cougars out of rhythm.

"We just plopped them in, stayed aggressive, and the results speak for themselves," West said.

UH outside hitter Siki Zarkovic, who struggled in the first two sets, served two natural points to close out the third set.

The Warriors dominated the fourth set, forcing the first-to-15 final set.

Middle Taylor Averill’s serves boosted the Warriors to a 6-2 lead. The Warriors then had advantages at 11-6 and 12-7.

The Cougars closed to 13-11 when Zarkovic’s serve failed to clear the net.

But then Averill and opposite Brook Sedore soared to block the 6-foot-4 Sander, who has a 43-inch vertical jump, setting up aloha point.

The coaches then signaled for the next offensive play to go to Sedore on the right side.

After a dig, setter Joby Ramos fed West, whose cut shot landed just in bounds.

West recalled: "(Ramos) even told me before the play, ‘Just be really loud and try to draw off the blocker (from Sedore). We’re going to give it to Brook here.’ I didn’t expect it to come to me and I honestly thought I hit it out of bounds. It wasn’t the best contact. But the ref called it in, and there went one of the greatest (matches) of my career."

Ramos said: "(West) was hustling, and he’s been working really hard lately. I saw the block up, and there was only one guy, and I knew he could put it away with only one up."

Sedore led the Warriors with 17 kills.

Zarkovic, who had two kills and six errors on nine swings in the first two sets, had 10 kills against one error thereafter. He finished with 12 kills.

Of his comeback, Zarkovic said: "I started playing."

Wade said: "Almost to a fault … I go with my guys. I’m going to let them play themselves back into it. … I just don’t want guys looking over their shoulders if they make a couple of mistakes, thinking they’ve got to come out. ‘C’mon, man, you’re a starter for a reason. Let’s have you play through this.’ You have to dance with the one you brought."

Wade added: "Our philosophy has been ‘believe.’ You’ve gotta believe. The guys really embraced that and kept battling and came up with a nice win."