It was 7 degrees back at the Penn State campus early Saturday morning, right about the time that the third-ranked Nittany Lions were being iced out by No. 10 Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Led by junior Siki Zarkovic’s 15 kills and 11 by senior Brook Sedore, the Rainbow Warriors remained unbeaten with a 26-24, 25-19, 25-18 win at the Stan Sheriff Center. The victory also gives Hawaii a chance to do something for its senior class: win the Outrigger Resorts Invitational for the first time in their careers.

"It’s what I told the team afterward," said senior middle Taylor Averill, who rebounded from a negative hitting night Thursday to hit .462 with seven kills and one error. "A bunch of us have been here for four years and we’ve never won it. It feels great to be able to play for the championship. This was a team win tonight."

Coincidentally, it will come against UC Irvine, the program Averill originally committed to. He transferred to Hawaii after attending one semester and not playing in the 2010-11 school year.

UC Irvine did its part in setting up the title match between the tournament’s two unbeatens. In Friday’s first match, Tamir Hershko put down 11 kills and Kyle Russell had four of UC Irvine’s seven aces as the eighth-ranked Anteaters swept No. 14 Ohio State 26-24, 25-21, 25-22.

Tournament newcomer UCI (2-1) goes for its first Outrigger title, while Hawaii (3-0) has won six, the last in 2010. The match is scheduled for 5 p.m.

No. 7 would be a very sweet confidence booster for Hawaii, which put together an all-around solid performance against Penn State (0-2, 0-2). It added to the confidence gained when rallying to win Set 1 after leading late (22-19).

The Nittany Lions took what became their only set point at 24-23 on a kill by Taylor Hammond. Zarkovic tied it after a Hawaii timeout, putting sophomore hitter Kupono Fey on the service line.

He never left. Averill and sophomore setter Jennings Franciskovic teamed to block Chris Nugent and, after a Penn State timeout, Sedore put down his sixth kill to end it.

The Nittany Lions never really recovered.

"After (Set 1), we became more predictable," said Penn State coach Mark Pavlik, walking out with the video challenge paddle that he used once (and lost). "I thought Charlie (UH coach Wade) did a real nice job of making sure his block was set up. We were triple-teaming them and they were field-goaling our block (hitting through it) while we field-goaled their block and they were digging it.

"There was that one stretch in Set 3 where they played very well and could do no wrong."

Indeed. Franciskovic served for seven straight and the Nittany Lions had no answer for Zarkovic’s angle shots as the Warriors jumped out to a 15-5 lead. It was 21-12 when Wade began to sub and Penn State took advantage with a mini run.

But the chasm was too great. Hawaii needed three match-point attempts, finishing it on sophomore reserve Iain McKellar’s only kill of the night after 1 hour and 41 minutes.

UCI 3, Ohio State 0

The Anteaters needed just 80 minutes to remain unbeaten in the tournament. UCI also needed a late rally to pull out Set 1 after trailing by as much as 20-15.

The Anteaters tied it at 22, 23 and 24, taking their first lead since 1-0 on a kill by Hershko. Russell’s kill ended it on UCI’s first set point.

Nicholas Szerszen led Ohio State with 11 kills. In what might be their last appearance here for the foreseeable future, the Buckeyes were outblocked 8.5-2.

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 — Penn St. 4 (Russell 3, Seifert). Hawaii 4 (Sedore 2, Fey 2). Service errors — Penn St. 11 (Goodell 3, Russell 3, Callaway 3, Sauter 2). Hawaii 7 (Averill 2, Zarkovic 2, Fey, Holt, Hartley). Assists — Penn St. 37 (Hammond 24, Parik 7, Curry 3, Goodell 2, Callaway). Hawaii 39 (Fracniskovic 33, Kanetake 4, Sedore, Fey). T — 1:41. A — N/A. Referees — Dan Hironaka, Ernie Ho.