The search for a lineup and an identity continues. The work in progress that is the No. 22 Hawaii volleyball team is both progressing and a lot of work. A lot of work. The Rainbow Wahine (6-3) are still finding themselves. Sunday evening, they also found a way to win, turning back San Francisco 15-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 in the finale of the 20th Outrigger Resorts Challenge.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,886 watched for 2 hours and 4 minutes as Hawaii finished second in this 10th annual event for the fourth time, to go with 16 titles. They also saw the return of sophomore hitter Nikki Taylor (hyper-extended elbow) to the starting lineup for the first time this season and another alltournament performance from junior middle Olivia Magill.

Magill finished with a match-high 15 kills, hitting .560 with just one error, and was in on seven of Hawaii’s 14 blocks. Taylor, who played in her first match of the year Friday against No. 25 UCLA, added 14 kills in playing “the kitchen sink” role last performed by graduated All-American Emily Hartong, playing both rightside and left-side hitter.

“I’ve always played both of the pins (outside positions), so it wasn’t much of a transition tonight,” said Taylor, taking a match-high 41 swings. “The hardest thing was trying to remember two separate scouting reports.

“It feels great, of course, to be back starting. And it’s a huge blessing to have a coach that really trusts me even though I haven’t had a lot of reps, trusting that I could come back and be effective.”

Hawaii was anything but effective in Set 1 when it was outscored 11-2 at the end. The lineup struggled and was juggled the rest of the match, especially at outside hitter.

With junior Tai Manu-Olevao sitting out for religious reasons, the third hitter option was “by committee.” Starter Ginger Long was followed by Savannah Kahakai (end of Set 1), then Keani Passi (Set 2) and Megan Huff (Sets 3 and 4).

The Dons contributed to the problems with their 6-2 lineup (alternating setters), which gave them three attackers in the front row at all times.

Freshman Oluoma Okaro was untouchable in Set 1, with seven kills and no errors on eight swings. Sophomore Katarina Pilepic was nearly as effective with five kills and no errors on seven attempts as USF hit .517. Hawaii adjusted. “We were getting our butts whipped,” Taylor said. “It infuriated us, and that drives you to kick butt the next set.”

The Wahine settled down but didn’t appear comfortable, even when serving for Set 2 at 24-20. Three tries later, it took a USF serving error to end it.

Closing it out continued to be a problem in Set 3. It was 21-16 and, just as quickly, it was 23-21. At 2422, 5-foot-9 setter Tayler Higgins won a joust with USF’s 6-4 middle Valentina Zaloznik to end it.

Dons coach Gilad Doron had anticipated the match would go five sets and was feeling good about his prediction as his team took what would be its last lead at 17-16. Hawaii’s tough serving forced USF’s servereceive to break down, with passes so tight to the net that setter Jurja Vlasic was called for two net violations, the last putting the Wahine ahead 21-18.

Hawaii finally closed it out with a 4-2 run, the match-ender coming on a solo block of Zaloznik by senior middle Kalei Adolpho.

Asked why it didn’t go to five sets, Adolpho, the team captain, said, “I think we were the better team.

“Our identity is ongoing, with people moving in and out of roles, we’re finding ourselves every night. We’re not a team of All-Americans who can just walk out there and roll over teams. It’s going to be a grind, but I think we’ve learned so many things from the (three) tournaments that we can continue building on.”

This was Hawaii’s last tournament. The Wahine take on Toyota Auto Body, with former UH All-American Kanani Danielson, in an exhibition Wednesday, followed by nonconference matches against Northern Arizona on Friday and Saturday.

“I give Hawaii a lot of credit to fight through the way they did tonight,” Doron said. “We knew No. 10 (Manu-Olevao) wouldn’t play and we didn’t know how much Nikki (Taylor) would. She wasn’t great, but she gave them just enough when they needed it.”

Pilepic led the Dons with 13 kills, Okaro finished with 12 and Zaloznik 10. Libero Kim Gutierrez had a matchhigh 17 digs.

Hawaii won the dig battle 43-41, with both Higgins and senior libero Sarah Mendoza finishing with 11. Mendoza was named to her first alltournament team as well.