Bad rotation.

Brigham Young-Hawaii knows about that from both sides of the volleyball net.

In Thursday’s NCAA II women’s national quarterfinal in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Seasiders got stuck in a near-fatal one when up 14-6 in Set 5 against Ferris State, seeing the Bulldogs rally for eight straight to tie at 14. BYU-Hawaii ended up winning the set 16-14 to take the match.

In Friday’s national semifinal against West Texas A&M, the Seasiders were four points from being eliminated after falling behind 11-9 in Set 5. This time, it was BYU-Hawaii that would take advantage of a mismatch at the net, as well as one of its best serving rotations.

Behind the tough serving of junior defensive specialist Kathleen Collette and the bionic arm of junior All-America hitter Shih Ting "Stella" Chen, the Seasiders rallied for six straight points to defeat the Lady Buffs 25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 15-11 and advance to today’s national championship.

Brigham Young-Hawaii (29-1), riding a 21-match win streak, will face six-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul (34-3) at the U.S. Cellular Arena (3 p.m. Hawaii time). The Golden Bears easily swept Wheeling Jesuit in Friday’s second semifinal, 25-11, 25-16, 25-12, to win their fifth straight.

Junior middle Erh Fang Hsu added 17 kills and junior libero Bry Tatupu-Leopoldo had 24 of the team’s 90 digs. Sophomore hitter Lacy Miyahira finished with 13 kills, and junior setter Ying Chun "Michelle" Chen 58 assists and 15 digs.

Also with double-digit digs were Stella Chen (18) and Collette (17).

Today’s final will be a rematch of last season’s national semifinal won by Concordia-St. Paul in straight sets. It is the first title match appearance for BYU-Hawaii since winning the 2002 championship, its second at the NCAA II level, and adding to its eight banners at the NAIA level.

Friday was the Seasiders’ third straight five-set match, the first being last Saturday’s marathon over host Cal State San Bernardino in the West Regional final. All have gone two-plus hours, including Friday’s win in 2 hours, 13 minutes.

"My gosh, I think I’ve aged 30 years since then," first-year BYU-Hawaii coach Mona Ah-Hoy said. "Even though we were down (8-6 at the change), I was telling the girls momentum was on our side, stay calm and don’t be too anxious.

"The rotation we had (down 11-10) was our best one — it’s the one we start out with, with Collette serving. She’s one of our toughest servers and I was feeling confident with her back there and our best hitter (Chen) in the front."

The confidence was rewarded. After a hitting error by West Texas’ Halie Harton, the Seasiders began their charge.

The Lady Buffs were called for a lift, followed by kills from Hsu and Stella Chen. Another misplayed ball gave BYU-Hawaii match point and there was no doubt who would take the swing on aloha ball.

Chen, who had 37 kills on 92 attempts Thursday, pounded down her 63rd swing Friday to end it.

"Coming into tonight, I told my players that these guys will be ready to play, they’re very similar to Ferris," Ah-Hoy said. "But I (later) told them I didn’t mean to play five sets.

"It was a great win, a great comeback tonight."

As for seeing Concordia-St. Paul, "They look good, are very disciplined, with lots of experience," Ah-Hoy said. "I think Concordia was stronger last year, but they’re still very good.

"Tomorrow, we need to take care of the ball. We haven’t played our best yet and we’ve won twice in five. Hopefully, we are saving the best for our last match."

Ah-Hoy, who won two NAIA titles with the Seasiders as a player, has the title-match experience. So does her volunteer assistant, Jay Akoi, who was the assistant for Wilfred Navalta for 10 title campaigns.

"We’ve shared with the girls about what it takes to win (the national championship) a few weeks ago," Ah-Hoy said. "Tonight, we’ll talk more about how it feels to win.

"I spoke with Wil before we left. He’s my mentor. The big thing he told me was to stay calm and then the girls will follow. Tonight, I was calm on the outside, but my heart was racing on the inside. We’re just going to play it one point at a time."