Many liken a rematch to a poker game. It all hinges on whether to stay with the hand that is dealt or hope for better with a new card … or two … or more.

For No. 7 Hawaii (10-6, 5-6), the hope is that tonight’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball match with top-ranked Long Beach State (14-2, 11-2) doesn’t turn into another game of “Go Fish.” It did Wednesday, when the Rainbow Warriors discarded five of their seven starters in a somewhat desperate effort to shake some life into the lineup.

“It definitely was a good lesson for us,” said freshman opposite Stijn van Tilburg, one of two Warriors starters to stay put during the 3-1 loss to the 49ers. “We need to bring more energy, get the crowd involved from the start. It’s not a hard thing to change. We have to walk in with a different mind-set.”

Hawaii had a day of practice to work on a lot of things, with coach Charlie Wade looking at different combinations that could help end a midseason slump. After one of its best starts in program history (9-1), the Warriors have dropped five of six, losing two straight at the Stan Sheriff Center, where they had won 17 in a row prior to the Feb. 6 five-set loss to then-No. 1 UCLA.

“It wasn’t a lack of effort, it was a lack of performance,” Wade said. “What I didn’t expect was everyone not to perform at the same time.”

The revamped Set 3 lineup had van Tilburg the only “veteran” among the five freshmen, senior hitter Brandon Hiehle in his first appearance of the season, and senior libero Kolby Kanetake a calming presence amid the chaos. Hawaii took the set but faltered midway through Set 4 when the 49ers ran off five straight points, including three consecutive aces clocked at 70 mph by national freshman of the year candidate TJ DeFalco, to take the lead for good at 16-11 en route to their eighth straight victory.

“It felt like we were back in January mode, where you don’t have a lot of information on the other team,” said 49ers coach Alan Knipe, who has started three freshmen all season. “So you keep it simple until you get a feel for it.

“Hawaii had some really nice plays, they get a set, there’s a new excitement in the gym. We had to deal with the stress of that. The end result was it was really good for our guys to have to go from dialing in completely on their starters to having to scrap the game plan and readjust. I thought they handled it fairly well.”