With its postseason volleyball fate to be decided in four days, eighth-ranked Hawaii came out Wednesday against Cal State Fullerton with all the precision of six volleyball players who just met.

The Rainbow Wahine (25-2, 17-0) turned it around, as they have all year in their return to the Big West Conference, winning 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-19. They can become the first team to go unbeaten in the Big West in 10 years with a win Friday against UC Riverside.

Hawaii has won its last 18 going into the final regular-season match, and has an NCAA-best 71 consecutive conference victories.

Emily Hartong, a four-time Big West Player of the Week who will probably be Player of the Year this time next week, had a match-high 23 kills. Her backup came from all over the court, with Jade Vorster in on seven blocks and libero Ali Longo getting 14 digs and four aces.

The Wahine had 12 aces in the match, but serving wasn’t enough to make up for an awful opening set. The Titans (15-15, 9-8) scored the last two points to win it, getting eight kills from Kayla Neto and a 6-for-6 performance from Torrie Brown.

"We took the set, it was a great thing," said CSF coach Carolyn Zimmerman. "Good things were happening at the end line to get Hawaii’s serve receive in trouble. Then in the second set we absolutely flatlined. We couldn’t do anything and we seemed to lose motivation. Where that comes from I can’t imagine when you’re up 1-0."

The Wahine passing settled in and they roared back, scoring 12 of the first 14 in Set 2 and stuffing six balls. UH coach Dave Shoji said he was "steaming inside" after the opening set, but kept his anger inside.

"We just had some loose points in the first set and Fullerton was digging everything and playing great transition," Shoji said. "They stole Game 1."

Longo said the players made their own adjustments, in part because the problems were so obvious.

"He knew that we made some silly errors and things like that," she said. "We talked about just picking up our energy, changing some stupid mistakes. We had a ball drop between Mita (Uiato) and I — dumb plays. It was just cleaning those things up."

They broke away in the third after a missed call — among several questionable calls. Kalei Adolpho, who averages 1.5 kills, had seven in the set and tied a career high with 10, despite getting subbed out in the fourth.

Hawaii used an 11-4 surge early in that final set to get all the separation it would need, but there were still some ugly rallies reminiscent of the opening minutes.

"It was frustrating," Longo admitted, "but if you look at the last five matches we’ve been in this trend of winning the first game so this is the first one where we’ve kind of let down. It’s a learning point. As we continue to peak at the right time, which we are, it will get better."

She had evidence. The Wahine hit .326 in the final three sets. Neto, second in conference kills to Hartong, finished with 16 but hit zero (8 kills, 8 errors) in those last sets.

The Wahine might not look pretty, but they haven’t lost in a Big West match since 1994, running the table in 1995 and again now in their return.

"I’m not sure we can play a perfect game," Shoji said. "We’re going to have points that are loose, points we don’t convert. But the bottom line is we win.

"We’re not going to play a perfect match no matter who we play so there will be ups and downs, but I’m confident we can make the plays we need to win."

After the match, UH recognized Shoji for his 1,100th coaching win, accomplished Saturday at UC Davis. Most of the 4,434 at the Stan Sheriff Center stayed to see co-captains Emily Maeda and Hartong give him lei. He was also presented with a framed certificate, the game ball from last week autographed by the team and an outrigger canoe paddle commemorating the win.

Shoji, in his 38th year, needs six more victories to pass Andy Banachowski and become the winningest coach in the history of his sport. Banachowski was at UCLA for 43 years.

The Wahine close the regular season Friday against UC Riverside. Maeda, the team’s only senior, will be honored after that match.

The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

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