For the first three sets, the Hawaii volleyball team found an offensive rhythm that had been absent in this first week of the season.

Then 10th-ranked Ohio State stuck pins in the Warriors’ upset aspirations.

Led by pin hitters Andrew Lutz and Chen Levitan, the Buckeyes rallied to a 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 15-12 victory in the opening round of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational.

A crowd of 1,433 in the Stan Sheriff Center saw the winless Warriors drop their third match of the season.

Ohio State improved to 2-0.

"I think they kind of settled down," coach Pete Hanson said of his Buckeyes. "I felt the first three sets we gave away a lot of points. We weren’t trusting one another and being confident with one another. We settled down and got into a good rhythm. We can do some good things. We can extend point to point."

The Buckeyes’ success came from the outside.

Lutz, a hard-hitting opposite, slammed 20 kills, including four in the first-to-15 fifth set.

Levitan, a 6-5 left-side hitter from Israel, buried 16 kills and hit .438. Levitan committed only two attack errors in 32 swings. He had five kills in the fifth set.

After controlling the fourth set with an active block, the Buckeyes stormed to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set.

The Warriors tried several tactics to curb the momentum, including rotating middles and servers. Little worked. The Warriors ended up burning their second timeout after the Buckeyes went ahead 11-5.

For all of the Buckeyes’ firepower, the end came on setter Peter Heinen’s dump shot at aloha ball.

"It’s a great gym to play in," said Lutz, who had little trouble blasting over and past double blocks. "It’s a great atmosphere. It felt good to be out there."

Lutz has endured past problems with his right (hitting) arm. In this match, his right arm was criss-crossed with medical tape.

"I think a lot of it is mental," Lutz said of the tape’s value. "But it feels good to have it on. I use it more for past stuff, hoping (the problems) won’t come back. So far, so good."

The Warriors, who were swept in their opening two-match series last week against Brigham Young, appeared to have found an offensive groove in their first home match of 2013.

JP Marks has made a smooth transition from the left side to opposite. He slammed 19 kills in an arm-numbing 46 swings.

Jace Olsen, who had struggled last week, contributed 11 kills and hit .360. Middle blocker Nick West was an inside threat with nine kills against no errors.

But too often the Warriors showed a tell.

"Our offense got really predictable," UH coach Charlie Wade said.

In one sequence in the fourth set, UH outside hitter Sinisa Zarkovic was blocked three times. Earlier, Marks was blocked twice on swings from the back row. He succeeded on his third try.

"We need to have a little more offensive diversity," Wade said. "We’ve got work to do. We like our talent. We like how we’re working. We have to get better."

UCLA 3, Penn State 1

After 50 years and 19 national titles, UCLA has a new head coach in John Speraw, successor to Al Scates. It has been a seamless transition.

The Bruins rallied to defeat Penn State, 19-25, 25-18, 18-5, 25-21, 15-10 in the opening round of the Outrigger Invitational.

The Bruins improved to 4-1.

This was the season-opening match for the Nittany Lions.

The Bruins played without their best attacker, left-side hitter Gonzalo Quiroga.

But 7-foot opposite Robert Page slammed 17 kills and hit .351, and left-side hitters Dane Worley and Kene Izuchukwu each contributed 13 kills.

The Bruins missed 21 serves, but they remained aggressive enough to control the final two sets.

Libero Evan Mottram was the only returning starter who played Thursday night.

Middle blocker Aaron Russell led the Nittany Lions with 12 kills.

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said the tournament’s nonconference matches will serve as test.

"We’re coming into this weekend saying we’re still in the midst of finding out who does what well, what can we use from top to bottom," Pavlik said. "I think this was good for our young guys. Any time you can feel the pressure of looking at the scoreboard and you’re winning and then looking and you’re losing and then you’re in the fifth set, I think that serves us well. It always has. The big key is if they can do anything with that when they go back into the gym."