STANFORD, Calif. » It has been a struggle at times for the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team this season. But on Tuesday night at venerable Burnham Pavilion, the Warriors were looking at pulling off the kind of upset that can turn a season around.

Hawaii won the first set and held a 10-8 lead in the second over third-ranked Stanford.

The Cardinal had split their past four matches, which dropped them from No. 1 in the country two weeks ago.

A 4-0 Stanford run sparked a 10-3 spurt for the Cardinal. Just like that, Stanford had tied up the match. The Cardinal ended up pulling out a 22-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 victory.

It was the third loss in three matches on a four-match road trip for Hawaii (6-12, 3-10 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). The trip concludes with another match tonight with Stanford — this time in Roscoe Maples Pavilion.

"The second game, we didn’t execute as much as we would like," Warriors setter Sam Biscaro said. "I think the first game, we were really crisp, a lot of effort. They just kind of made more plays. They were just a little bit more crisp."

Hawaii’s hitting definitely slipped after the first game. The Warriors had 13 kills in the opener and had a percentage of .370. That number fell to .143 in the second, when they committed six errors.

Meanwhile, Stanford (14-4, 11-3) got better as the night wore on. The Cardinal hit just .233 in the first two sets, then hit .481 in the final two sets. Steven Irvin had a career-high 19 kills for Stanford. ‘Iolani graduate Brad Lawson added 11 and Brian Cook 10. Lawson did not record an ace and remains tied for the Stanford career record with 115 aces (Duncan Blackman).

Punahou graduate Erik Shoji received 20 serves (including seven digs), making just one error for the Cardinal. Stanford coach John Kosty said Shoji — a three-time All-American — has been as good as he can be this year.

"Erik Shoji’s our floor leader," Kosty said. "He’s the best libero in college volleyball and potentially will be the best libero for a very long time."

Shoji preferred to look at the big picture.

"Every win is big in this conference," Shoji said. "We’re tied for second right now with two other teams and if we had lost tonight, we would have been fifth. So it’s definitely a big game. We’re taking every match seriously and we’re trying to come up with the wins every night."

Steven Hunt provided Hawaii with 14 kills, while Taylor Averill had 12. The Warriors finished with just four blocks against 54 kills for Stanford.

"We looked like a team that’s been on the road for a week, and we have," Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. "When some of the ball-control stuff starts to go away and the feet aren’t moving quite as sharply, I think there’s some of that. And Stanford’s good."

The quick turnaround to tonight’s match means Wade’s players can’t worry about fatigue.

"It’s not as much physical as being really ready to come in and compete," he said. "This team’s pretty young. We’re on this stretch where every team we play is ranked in the top four in the country. They’ve just got a couple of better players than we do. We’re hanging around a lot. We’re winning shots, we’re getting 20 in a lot of them, we’re just not able to push through."