The University of Hawaii volleyball team faces aloha ball to its 2014 season after losing in three sets to Pepperdine on Friday night in Malibu, Calif.

The Rainbow Warriors’ playoff hopes have boiled down to a win-or-vacation situation entering Saturday’s rematch against the second-ranked Waves in the regular-season finale in the Firestone Fieldhouse.

"We’re still alive," UH coach Charlie Wade said after Friday’s 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 loss.

UH and UCLA are battling for the eighth and final Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoff berth.

Based on the tiebreaker formula, UH (13-10 in the MPSF) could gain the postseason with a victory over Pepperdine coupled with a UCLA (14-9) loss to Brigham Young on Saturday. The Warriors won both regular-season matches against the Bruins.

The Warriors could have spared the dramatic finish if it could have mustered more of a fight against the Waves. The Warriors’ fingerprints were all over this loss, from erratic serves (14 errors) to an inability to sideout consistently (54 percent).

"We never really got it going," Wade said. "We never put any pressure on them serving-wise. That’s been a big thing for us, to put some pressure to score. I think, for us, that kind of defines us. That certainly didn’t happen, but it was the only thing that didn’t happen."

Opposite attacker Brook Sedore led the Warriors with 10 kills, but he committed seven errors. He hit .111.

That was better than outside hitter Siki Zarkovic, who managed four kills on 22 swings and hit .045. It was an untimely off night for Zarkovic, who was named the national player of the week on Tuesday for his work against BYU a week ago.

But on Friday night, the Warriors had difficulty passing the Waves’ serves and, ultimately, finding an offensive rhythm.

In the first set, the Warriors closed to 13-12 before the Waves ran off four points in a row.

The Waves dominated the second set.

UH played better in the third set, leading 22-20. But Taylor Averill’s float-push serve sailed long, and then the Waves tied it at 22 when officials ruled that Kyle Gerrans’ pipe spike grazed a UH blocker’s fingertips. The Warriors protested, even drawing a yellow card, but the call was sustained. The momentum shifted, and the Waves scored three of the final four points.

Punahou graduate Josh Taylor led the Waves with 11 kills.

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 — Hawaii 2 (Sedore, Averill). Pepperdine 1 (Rhein).  Service errors — Hawaii 14 (Sedore 4, Olsen 3, Averill 2, Zarkovic 2, West, Timmer, Mol). Pepperdine 6 (Taylor 2, West, Tarantino, Rhein, States). Assists — Hawaii 34 (Ramos 29, Franciskovic 3, Averill, Kanetake). Pepperdine 28 (West 26, Anderson 2). T — 1:32. Officials — Joe Sloate, Lydia Godshall.  A — 1,065.