In a volleyball sequel that might have been better than the original, the University of Hawaii swept second-ranked Brigham Young, 37-35, 25-20, 25-19 before more than 4,000 fans in the Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday night.

The Rainbow Warriors chipped in to give five seniors an emotional parting gift — a boost in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings — in their final home match.

By upsetting the league’s leader for the second night in a row, the Warriors improved to 13-9 in the MPSF and moved into a three-way tie for sixth place. The top eight teams qualify for the MPSF playoffs. The Warriors, who play two road matches against Pepperdine this week, have the tiebreaker advantage involving three or more teams because of their victories over BYU.

The Warriors outlasted the Cougars in an epic first set — tying the longest since sets were reduced to 25 points four years ago — and then cruised in the next two sets to complete the storybook script.

After imploding in the first two sets of a five-set victory on Friday night, the Warriors won six sets in a row over their longtime rival.

"I got chickenskin watching this," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who had an endline seat. "This is three of the best sets ever from a drama point of view and from a UH point of view. I never thought we’d win three sets in a row. It was grit and determination. Every point was contested all around."

The Warriors passed well, giving setter Joby Ramos a full menu of choices.

"This was the best match I’ve seen Joby set in a while," middle Taylor Averill said. "Everything was clicking on all cylinders."

Averill and middle Nick West combined for 14 kills. Left-side hitter Jace Olsen slammed nine kills on .471 hitting. Opposite Brook Sedore contributed 11 kills.

"And Siki got us going," Averill said of left-side hitter Sinisa "Siki" Zarkovic.

Zarkovic slammed 22 kills, giving him 32 kills on .429 hitting in the final six sets of the series.

"When the team plays good, I play good," Zarkovic said.

Zarkovic was able to tool swings off blocks at the pins, as well as pound quick pipe sets. Six of Zarkovic’s kills were launched from behind the 3-meter line.

BYU libero Jaylen Reyes, whose father was a longtime UH assistant coach, said the Warriors had too many weapons.

"We didn’t play bad at all," Reyes said, "but they played lights out. They destroyed us. Brook and Siki and Jace played well. We didn’t do anything with Taylor. Nick played well. And Kolby (Kanetake) was passing lights-out. They’re a tough matchup, especially at home on senior night. Their backs were against the wall."

In Friday’s match, the Warriors had difficulty with their serves. Saturday’s strategy was to make the Cougars "receive serves," UH coach Charlie Wade said. "We didn’t want to shorten the game for them."

Taylor Sander, BYU’s All-America outside hitter, pounded 17 kills. But he was blocked five times.

"I’m really proud of our guys," Wade said, noting he was concerned about a second-night letdown. "It was such an emotional night (on Friday). But I could tell in the locker room (before Saturday’s match) the guys were so determined. They knew we needed to win and send our seniors off as winners on our home court."

Sedore said: "I don’t think we beat them. I thought our crowd beat them. (The Cougars) got so nervous and so rattled."

MPSF VOLLEYBALL

x-clinched MPSF title

y-clinched MPSF playoff berth

Saturday
Hawaii def. BYU 37-35, 25-20, 25-19
Pacific def. Cal Baptist 25-14, 25-18, 25-22
CS Northridge def. UC Santa Barbara 25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23
UCLA def. Long Beach State 23-25, 26-24, 26-24, 18-25, 15-13
Pepperdine def. USC 25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 14-25, 15-11
*UC San Diego def. UC Merced 25-13, 25-10, 25-11
*non-MPSF match

NO. 10 HAWAII DEF. NO. 2 BYU, 37-35, 25-20, 25-19

COUGARS (18-6, 18-4 MPSF) 

RAINBOW WARRIORS (15-10, 13-9 MPSF)

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — BYU 1 (Sander). Hawaii 3 (Sedore 2, Zarkovic). Service errors — BYU 7 (Rivera 2, Dobbert 2, Heap, Sander, Underwood). Hawaii 12 (West 3, Olsen 3, Sedore 2, Zarkovic 2, Ramos, Timmer). Assists — BYU 44 (Heap 36, Sutton 6, Sander, Reyes). Hawaii 55 (Ramos 50, Kanetake 3, Averill, Olsen). T — 1:50. Officials — Burt Fuller, Dan Hironaka. A — 4,493.