The drama that went on in Chavez Ravine on Friday night had nothing on what happened at the tip of Manoa Valley. Some 10 minutes before Los Angeles finally won Game 3 of the World Series in the 18th inning, Hawaii celebrated its biggest victory of coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos’ young career.

Led by senior hitter McKenna Granato’s 17 kills and a never-say-die defense, the Rainbow Wahine refused to fold when up against the wall that was No. 11 Cal Poly. A boisterous Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,644 saw Hawaii defeat a Top 25 team for the first time in its past 14 tries as UH rallied past the Mustangs 14-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-18, 15-10 in 2 hours and 22 minutes.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” said junior setter-hitter Norene Iosia, who was one kill away from her fifth triple-double, finishing with 23 assists and 21 digs. “We all took it really personally. They took our title last year, (we) came up short against them the last three times.

“To have the crowd behind us was just … ”

“Memorable,” senior opposite Angel Gaskin said, finishing the sentence for Iosia. “This was inspirational. I’m going to remember this forever. This is something to tell your kids, your grandkids about.

“Everyone was on the same page. It was easy to keep our composure (in the fifth). The more we stayed together, the more they fell apart.”

It was the first time the Mustangs (19-2, 9-1) had been pushed to five this season, while it was the Wahine’s fourth five-setter. Hawaii is now 3-1 when it goes five.

The Wahine have little time to celebrate, as they host UC Santa Barbara (13-9, 5-5) at 7 tonight. The pressure remains on for Hawaii, which likely needs to run the table to keep its postseason hopes alive.

“I don’t care how they start as long as they finish how they did,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “They kept playing together, working together. They played as a team.

“I’d like to thank the fans tonight. They made a huge difference. No other gym in the Big West sounds like ours. It’s huge to have that support.”

Hawaii fed off the energy when it switched sides with an 8-7 lead in Set 5. Cal Poly took a brief 9-8 lead before a service error by Mika Dickson tied it at 9.

Kills by Granato, Gaskin and sophomore middle Sky Williams gave Hawaii the cushion it needed at 12-10. Redshirt freshman Janelle Gong held serve the rest of the way, including a dig-kill that gave the Wahine match point.

“The dig was huge, that was the turner,” Ah Mow-Santos said.

Junior middle Natasha Burns added 11 kills and senior setter Faith Ma’afala turned in a double-double with 21 assists and 21 digs. Senior libero Tita Akiu had her 19th match in double-digit digs with 13.

Cal Poly got a match-high 21 kills from junior hitter Torrey Van Winden, who added a double-double with 10 digs. The Mustangs outblocked the Wahine 19-11.5, including eight in Set 3. Senior libero Katherine Brouker finished with a match-high 23 digs.

“Were disappointed in the outcome, obviously,” Mustangs coach Sam Crosson said. “Certainly in terms of conference venues it’s one of the most challenging places to play. But I was proud of our group for playing together. I thought we did a lot of things well, things we work on in practice.

“I will certainly give credit. I thought Hawaii’s floor defense tonight was really good, and they kept a lot of balls (up) and our kill percentage was down. At the end of the day I thought they were subtly better at the serve-receive game, which is always a key component. And other than that, it was just they were a little bit better in some areas. But we’re making progress. … But the train’s moving on, so let’s get ready to go play great again at home.”

Hawaii hadn’t been swept at home in Big West play since Oct. 23, 1993, that coming in Klum Gym against Long Beach State, 15-2, 15-6, 15-9. The Wahine made sure it didn’t happen Friday, pulling out Set 2. It was just the third set that Cal Poly had dropped in conference this season, the others coming against Hawaii and Long Beach State.