It may have been sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg’s birthday, but it was Hawaii seniors Kupono Fey and Hendrik Mol who got the real party started Friday night in Westwood, Calif.

Outside hitter Fey had a team-high 13 kills and middle blocker Mol’s all-around effort led to the Rainbow Warriors clinching the third seed as well as hosting duties for an Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball tournament quarterfinal on April 15.

The 26-28, 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 victory over No. 6 UCLA in the Wooden Center not only ended the Bruins’ seven-match winning streak, but it meant that No. 4 Hawaii (23-4, 13-4 MPSF) didn’t have to wait to see what was happening down the I-405 at UC Irvine later Friday night to figure out playoff scenarios. However, one thing did get cleared up 90 minutes away: the Anteaters’ 3-1 win over Stanford meant that UCI earned the No. 4 seed and will host the fifth-seeded Bruins on April 15.

Who Hawaii hosts will be decided tonight, the final night of the regular season. It will be Pepperdine, Stanford or USC, all of which the Warriors have defeated twice this season.

It doesn’t matter to Hawaii coach Charlie Wade, who said he gave up trying to figure out the tiebreakers. It’s the same feeling he has about the lineup he’ll use in tonight’s rematch with the Bruins (17-8, 10-7).

“It’s a unique opportunity in that it doesn’t matter what we do, win or lose, it doesn’t change our standing in the league,” Wade said in a telephone call. “No question we’d like to win to help our resume, but, at the same time, we have an opportunity to give some guys like (freshman hitter) Austin Matautia. (sophomore setter) Joe Worsley and (sophomore middle) Dalton Sobrig some needed playing time.”

One of the reserves, freshman opposite Rado Parapunov, got his chance last night when he replaced van Tilburg for good in Set 2, a set after the Warriors failed to convert on three set points starting with 24-22. Parapunov finished with nine kills, hit .316 and was in on two of the team’s 10 blocks.

Wade said he decided to go with Parapunov for several reasons, including that the Bulgarian national was better at taking swings on high, out-of-system balls than van Tilburg.

“And you know UCLA’s spent a lot of time preparing for Stijn,” Wade said. “And then we take him off the court and they had spent no time on Rado. Advantage us.”

It was obvious. The left-handed Parapunov started off by putting down six kills with no errors on eight swings.

Mol was equally efficient throughout the 2 hours and 18 minutes. The Norwegian national had seven kills with no errors on 11 swings with two aces and four blocks, including two solo.

“And he created some havoc with the guy across the net,” Wade said of Mol’s matchup with UCLA’s All-America senior middle Mitch Stahl.

Stahl finished with just six kills, hitting .154. Jake Arnitz, the reigning MPSF player of the week, got away for a match-high 20 kills, but the Warriors pretty much contained the rest of the Bruins.

UCLA sophomore setter Micah Ma’a (Punahou), who had been slowed by a back issue, came into the match late in Set 1 and the Bruins went from a 5-1 offense under senior setter Hagen Smith to a 6-2 with Ma’a and Smith sharing setting duties. Ma’a finished with 19 assists in addition to seven kills and was in on three of UCLA’s eight blocks, including the one that gave the Bruins the 28-26 win in Set 1.

Anchoring the Hawaii defense was libero Tui Tuileta, who finished with 13 digs. Freshman middle Patrick Gasman added six kills and was in on a team-high five blocks.

Fey was key in the pivotal Set 3, putting down all seven of his attempts, his seventh giving the Warriors the lead at 20-15.

Set 4 was a statistical anomaly, including Hawaii managing just eight kills to UCLA’s nine. The Warriors won by seven points.

“I remember looking at the numbers midway through Set 4,” Wade said. “We were hitting .000 and we were leading 15-13.”