Win and in.

That was all Hawaii had to do to clinch one of the final two playoff berths in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball tournament. It took 2 and 50 minutes as well as career nights to do it as the No. 8 Rainbow Warriors rallied from two sets down to turn back No. 14 UC Irvine, 23-25, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23, 15-11 Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Freshman opposite Stijn van Tilburg put down a career high 27 kills and senior hitter Siki Zarkovic tied his with 25 for Hawaii (14-9, 9-9) in front of 2,501. Junior hitter Kupono Fey added 12 kills for the Warriors (14-9, 9-9 MPSF) when defeating the Anteaters for a second night in five sets.

It was the first time since 2010 that Hawaii had defeated UCI (8-17, 5-13) twice in a season.

“We won because we were mentally tough,” van Tilburg said. “We’ve been through a lot this season, so many ups and downs.

“We played a great game, Irvine played a great game. We’ve been told to think about how we feel when we win and how we feel when we lose. We wanted to feel the win.”

Junior hitter Michael Saeta led the Anteaters with 18 kills and Kyle Russell had 16 kills and junior hitter Thomas Hodges each had 14 kills for the Anteaters, playing their sixth five-setter in eight matches.

UH freshman setter Joe Worsley had his second consecutive double-double with 56 assists and 10 digs. Zarkovic also finished with a double-double with 13 digs.

Freshman reserve Brett Rosenmeier had three of Hawaii’s seven aces. Saeta had three of UCI’s five.

Hawaii grabbed the momentum it needed after pulling out Set 4. A block on Hodges gave the Warriors separation at 9-4 and they ended it on dramatic fashion when Nainoa Frank, Worsley and Fey teamed to block Saeta.

Hawaii played catch-up for most of Set 1 against a very efficient UCI offense. The Anteaters, who had 19 service errors in Friday’s loss, cut it to two and hit .679 to the Warriors’ .500.

A kill by junior hitter Kupono Fey gave Hawaii what would be its last lead at 22-21. A service error by junior middle Hendrik Mol jump-started a 3-0 run that gave UCI the set point at 24-22 and, one sideout later, senior middle Jason Agopian ended it with his fifth kill on as many swings.

Hawaii again played catch-up for most of Set 2, trailing by as much as 15-9. The Warriors overcame being aced four times to tie at 21 and 23, the latter on Fey’s solo stuff of Thomas Hodges.

What Hawaii couldn’t overcome was a critical call by up official Ray Mink, who had allowed numerous loose sets. Mink called van Tilburg for a lift, giving him a yellow card as UCI took the lead at 25-24. Zarkovic’s ninth kill tied it for the ninth time only to have freshman Colton Cowell’s service error — the Warriors’ fifth of the set and eighth of the night — give the Anteaters their third chance at ending it.

Senior hitter Kyle Russell, the team’s kill leader who had played sparingly Friday night, buried his eighth kill to give UCI the 2-0 lead.

The Warriors refused to be swept … but it wasn’t easy. The Anteaters went on a 5-0 run, including blocks of van Tilburg and Fey, to pull away at 23-20.

Van Tilburg’s 18 kill, Zarkovic’s 16th and an ace by freshman reserve Brett Rosenmeier tied it at 23. UCI had a swing to end it on Saeta’s 10th kill but Hawaii held, getting a kill by by Frank, a hitting error by Russell and Fey’s ninth kill to force a fourth.

Hawaii won a heart-stopping Set 4, breaking the 10th tie (22-22) on a UCI hitting error and a service error for a 24-22 lead. One sideout later, UCI’s 12th service error sent it to a fifth for the second straight night.

MPSF VOLLEYBALL

 WLPct.GBWLx-Stanford153.833–173x-BYU153.833–193x-UCLA153.833–213x-LBSU144.7781205x-Pepperdine117.6114127x-UCSB108.5565159x-Hawaii99.5006149CSUN612.33391312UC Irvine513.27810817USC414.22211616Cal Baptist414.222111214UC San Diego018.00015519x-clinched MPSF tournament berth

Saturday

Hawaii def. UC Irvine 23-25, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23, 15-11

Cal Baptist def. Holy Names 25-12, 25-19, 25-22

UCLA def. Long Beach State 25-22, 25-22, 25-22

BYU def. UC San Diego 25-19, 25-13, 25-21

Pepperdine def. USC 31-29, 25-22, 25-23

UC Santa Barbara def. CSUN 25-20, 25-18, 25-15

Wednesday

CSUN at Stanford

UC Irvine at Cal Baptist

Thursday

Long Beach State at Pepperdine

Friday

Hawaii at UC Santa Barbara, 4 p.m. HST

UC San Diego at Cal Baptist

BYU at UCLA