The next game is always the most important.

Coaches and players always will say that.

Always.

But, in the case of Hawaii, it was never more true than this week. The Rainbow Wahine know they are fighting for their NCAA volleyball tournament lives, starting with Friday’s match at No. 23 Cal Poly.

Hawaii (15-6, 9-1 Big West) has won its last four since seeing the Mustangs — too much of the Mustangs — on Oct. 7. Cal Poly (20-2, 10-0) left the Stan Sheriff Center crowd, not to mention the Wahine, stunned by rallying for a five-set victory in 2 hours and 29 minutes.

Hawaii was up 2-0 and then imploded after coming out of the break. The Wahine were down 9-1 in Set 3 and 7-1 in Set 4, never recovering en route to the 16-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-9 loss.

“This match (with Cal Poly) is really critical,” Hawaii senior libero Savanah Kahakai said. “We know we have to win the rest of our matches. This one is really big.

“There’s pressure on both teams, we’re both fighting for the No. 1 spot. Maybe there’s more pressure on them, playing at home, but I feel there’s the pressure on us. We know how important this is.”

The key, said the reigning conference defensive player of the week, will be serving. That has not been Hawaii’s strong point in recent weeks, when the Wahine have had a combined 75 service errors in their past six matches, including double-digit errors in the last four and five of the last six.

Half of Hawaii’s three-hour practices usually are devoted to serving and passing.

“Maybe if I get off the serve-pass thing we’ll be better at it, I don’t know,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “Hopefully, the girls are stoked to play against (Cal Poly) and get some revenge.

“I look at it as one game at a time, take care of business each day. We know we had them here … “

Friday’s match is in the Mott Athletic Center (3,032 capacity) where the road-tested Mustangs have played at home only four times this season. Two were last week, as Cal Poly swept Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State. The Mustangs extended their winning streak to 15 with their sweep at UC Irvine on Tuesday.

That the Mustangs have dropped only four sets in conference play this year could be the deciding factor should Cal Poly and Hawaii finished tied in the Big West standings. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head, the second is sets won-sets lost; the Wahine had dropped nine.

Note

The Wahine left today for the mainland. Not on the 14-player travel roster were sophomore hitter Kirsten Sibley and freshman defensive specialists Rika Okino and Janelle Gong.