Taken to the limit on Saturday, Hawaii extended its season to the final day of the NCAA beach volleyball calendar.

The SandBows survived two elimination matches and advanced to the semifinals of the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship with a dramatic 3-2 win over fourth-seeded Florida State in Gulf Shores, Ala.

UH’s dual with Florida State came down to Court 5, where junior Hannah Zalopany and freshman Amy Ozee fought off five match points and won on their eighth swing for the match to outlast Hailey Luke and Eva Torruella 21-17, 18-21, 27-25, ending the match on a block by Ozee.

“That’s the kind of stuff that people talk about for a very long time,” UH coach Jeff Hall said in a phone interview. “Those two kids who won that, they’ll have that the rest of their lives, which is so cool.

“That’s why we do this, to create those memories and to have those moments.”

The fifth-seeded SandBows (29-6) face No. 3 Pepperdine in a semifinal match today at 5 a.m. The winner takes on No. 1 and defending national champion USC at 8 a.m. for the title. The championship match will be televised on TBS.

Pepperdine won the first two meetings with UH this season, but the SandBows claimed the last matchup, a 4-1 victory at the Ching Complex on April 8.

“It’s going to be an absolute knock-down, drag-out fight,” Hall said. “They know us well, we know them well. There’s not going to be any secrets or tricks. It’s just going to be about execution.”

After splitting their matches on Friday — starting with a win over Florida State — the SandBows began the day by eliminating seventh-seeded LSU 3-0. UH, which placed fourth in last year’s inaugural NCAA tournament, cruised on the middle three courts to end LSU’s first NCAA tournament appearance and advance in the contenders bracket.

Florida State eliminated second-seeded UCLA 3-1 in the first match of the day and UH won the first set on four courts in the rematch with the Seminoles.

Carly Kan and Ari Homayun swept Katie Horton and Francesca Goncalves 21-14, 22-20 to give UH the first point, but the other four courts went to a third set.

Emily Maglio and Laurel Weaver ran away in the third set and gave UH a 2-0 lead with a 21-16, 20-22, 15-7 victory. But Florida State won tight third sets on Courts 1 and 2 to even the dual.

All of the attention then turned to Court 5, where Zalopany and Ozee, who were swept by Luke and Torruella on Friday, fended off the first match point at 14-13 on a Zalopany kill.

“These kids are acutely aware of the moments and you want to help them, but the beauty of the game that we play is there’s no coach help in those situations,” Hall said. “They have to do this independently and that makes it so unique. Zap and Amy just absolutely rose to the occasion.“

The pairs traded points and momentum swings in the wind, with UH surviving four more match points. After Luke’s block evened the set 25-25, an FSU kill attempt landed just wide of the tape to give UH its eighth swing for the match. Ozee, a 6-foot-1 Seabury Hall graduate, ended a rally and the match with her final block.

“I talked to her afterward about all the extra reps, the fact that you come early and stay late and you come after weights and do all these extra things, this is why you do it,” Hall said.

“With Zap, she was just a leader. She’s been kind of a mother hen for our program and I’m just so proud of her in that moment that she was not fazed by how big it was and absolutely resilient.”

Between UH’s duals, USC returned to the title match with a 3-0 win over Pepperdine.

National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship
At Gulf Shores, Ala.

FRIDAY
Match 1: No. 1 USC def. No. 8 South Carolina, 3-0
Match 2: No. 5 Hawaii def. No. 4 Florida State, 3-1
Match 3: No. 2 UCLA def. No. 7 LSU, 3-0
Match 4: No. 3 Pepperdine def. No. 6 Long Beach State, 3-0
Match 5: Florida State def. South Carolina, 3-0 (South Carolina
eliminated)
Match 6: LSU def. Long Beach State, 3-2 (LBSU eliminated)
Match 7: USC def. Hawaii, 3-0
Match 8: Pepperdine def. UCLA, 3-1

SATURDAY
Match 9: Florida State def. UCLA 3-1 (UCLA eliminated)
Match 10: Hawaii def. LSU, 3-0 (LSU eliminated)
Match 11: USC def. Pepperdine 3-0
Match 12: Hawaii def. Florida State 3-2 (FSU eliminated)

TODAY
Match 13: Hawaii vs. Pepperdine, 5 a.m.
Championship: USC vs. Hawaii-Pepperdine winner, 8 a.m. (TBS)

SATURDAY

>> No. 5 Hawaii def. No. 7 LSU 3-0

Court 1: Mikayla Tucker-Morgan Martin (UH) vs. Claire Coppola-Kristen Nuss (LSU), 19-21, 11-13, DNF.
Court 2: Nikki Taylor-Kaiwi Schucht (UH) def. Emmy Allen-Maddie Ligon (LSU), 21-15, 21-13.
Court 3: Emily Maglio-Laurel Weaver (UH) def. Olivia Powers-Katie Lindelow (LSU), 21-16, 21-12.
Court 4: Carly Kan-Ari Homayun (UH) def. Cati Leak-Callan Molle (LSU), 21-12, 21-13.
Court 5: Amy Ozee-Hannah Zalopany (UH) vs. Riley Young-Megan Davenport (LSU), 19-21, 16-16, DNF.

Order of finish: 4, 2, 3

>> No. 5 Hawaii No. 4 Florida State

Court 1: Leigh Andrew-Brooke Kuhlman (FSU) def. Mikayla Tucker-Morgan Martin (UH), 21-14, 15-21, 17-15.
Court 2: Vanessa Freire-Victoria Paranagua (FSU) def. Nikki Taylor-Kaiwi Schucht (UH), 18-21, 21-19, 15-12.
Court 3: Laurel Weaver-Emily Maglio (UH) def. Sierra Sanchez-Macy Jerger (FSU), 21-16, 20-22, 15-7.
Court 4: Carly Kan-Ari Homayun (UH) def. Katie Horton-Francesca Goncalves (FSU), 21-14, 22-20
Court 5: Amy Ozee-Hannah Zalopany (UH) def. Hailey Luke-Eva Torruella (FSU) 21-17, 18-21, 27-25.

Order of finish, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5