Fueled by outside power, third-ranked Stanford outlasted Hawaii for a 25-23, 22-25, 33-31, 20-25, 15-9 volleyball victory in the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night.

A crowd of 2,149 saw the Cardinal improve to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. It was the Cardinal’s first victory in three road matches this season.

The Warriors fell to 3-7 and 2-5. It was the fifth time they played to five sets in six home matches this season. They are 2-3 in fifth sets.

“Another tough five-set loss, but I’d rather lose in five than in three,” UH’s Brook Sedore said. “It gives us more chances to get better.”

Outside hitter Steve Irvin and opposite Brian Cook combined for 47 of Stanford’s 69 kills and 89 of its 157 swings.

Irvin pounded a career-high 27 kills (against four errors) and hit .548.

Irvin was a force in the fifth set, when he slammed four kills and two aces. It was 12-8 when Irvin hit a serve that ricocheted off outside hitter Siki Zarkovic.

Irvin’s next serve had the same bounce-off effect on libero Matt Cheape, setting up match point.

It was 14-9 after Stanford’s Jake Kneller hit long.

But the match ended when the Warriors failed to take advantage of a Stanford overpass.

Middle blocker Davis Holt’s spike landed in the net for aloha point.

The outcome dampened the Warriors’ frenetic comeback attempt. Down 2-1 after a 64-point third set, the Warriors easily controlled the fourth set, spreading their attack with Zarkovic, JP Marks and Sedore on the pins and Taylor Averill in the middle.

Averill started in place of Nick West, who has been bothered by a variety of ailments. Sedore was making his third start, at opposite.

Marks and Sedore are the Warriors’ best servers. For the abbreviated fifth set, UH coach Charlie Wade juggled the rotation, moving Marks to lead-off server. The strategy meant that Sedore, who usually serves fourth, would move to third. UH’s hope was that Marks and Sedore would get at least two service turns in the fifth set.

But the Cardinal sabotaged those plans by jumping to leads of 5-2 and 9-4 in the fifth set.

“We needed to come out with more energy in Set 5,” Sedore said. “Stanford came out with energy.”

Stanford controlled the tempo with timeouts and by repeatedly calling for floor wipes after UH points.

Floor official Dickson Chun, aware of Stanford’s tactics, tried to hasten the floor drying.

For the Warriors, a greater concern was the Cardinal’s perimeter attack. Irvin was able to crush angle shots past the UH block.

Cook, who can play both left side and opposite, was a threat from the front and back right.

Trained initially as a beach player, Cook has developed into one of the top indoor players. He is an opposite with rare skills as a passer. Most of all, he was able to hit over what had been a pretty good UH block.

Outside hitter Kneller, the lone holdover from Stanford’s 2010 national championship team, contributed 10 kills.

The Warriors nearly seized momentum in the third set. Down 20-15, Kneller hit wide to close the gap to four points.

Then UH outside hitter Johann Timmer was summoned as a serving substitute. Timmer, who missed three practices this week because of the flu, served four consecutive points to tie it at 20. UH should have gained the lead, but an obvious kill was ruled to have been dug by the Cardinal.

Stanford went on to win that set despite UH serving for the win six times.