Overcoming its over-confidence and generosity, the University of Hawai'i volleyball team fought for a 30-27, 30-20, 22-30, 27-30, 19-17 victory over Long Beach State last night in the Pyramid.

By winning their seventh in a row, the Warriors moved into a three-way tie for seventh place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Only the top eight teams qualify for the MPSF playoffs. The Warriors, who are 10-13 overall and 8-11 in the MPSF, hold the tie-breaker edge over the other seventh-place teams, Pacific and Southern California.

The 49ers fell to 11-14 and 6-13.

"Oh, it was tough," UH left-side hitter Eric Kalima said. "They were talking a lot of smack. We took it to the next level when we had to."

The Warriors had not won a first-to-15, win-by-two Game 5 in four previous attempts this season. And it appeared the Warriors would let last night's decisive game slip away, too.

The Warriors blew a 13-10 lead, and were on the wrong side of match point four times — at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16.

But opposite attacker Lauri Hakala, who buried a match-high 29 kills, hit an angle shot to tie it at 17.

Then Brian Beckwith chased down an errant pass and lofted a high set to Matt Vanzant, who found the court and an 18-17 UH lead.

The Warriors closed the match when Dio Dante and Beckwith stuffed Dan Alexander's swing. Dante contributed to 12 of the Warriors' 20.5 blocks.

"This was good for us," Kalima said. "We hadn't won a five-game match all year. We've had so much experience in this. We didn't panic this time. We just tried to make plays."

The 2-hour, 20-minute match lasted 50 minutes longer than projected after the Warriors won Game 1 and dominated Game 2. In the second game, UH coach Mike Wilton noted, "We beat their socks off."

In Game 4, the Warriors coasted to a 22-16 lead. The 49ers then sided out on Dean Bittner's kill, making it 22-17.

The 49ers then decided to gamble, replacing 6-foot-1 setter Connor Easton in the front row with 6-6 Daniel Fabry. Middle blocker Teddy Liles, who was the server, became the setter. Against the towering front line, the Warriors' offense disappeared.

Liles, using a dancing set-float, served eight points in a row to give the 49ers a 25-22 lead. The Warriors called two timeouts but could not stop the proverbial bleeding.

"We backed off," Wilton said. "We got stuck in one rotation. It was pretty maddening, actually."

In Game 5, the Warriors received an emotional spark when Eaton began yelling across the net at Kalima.

"When you have a game when there are big ranges, it gets kind of emotional," Wilton said. "I don't think it was a big deal."

Kalima said: "That's stuff that happens on the court. After the match was pau, we shook hands. It was over."

The Warriors are hopeful that their breakdowns in passing — late in Game 1, most of Game 3 and in the final third of Game 4 — were just glitches that are now pau.

Wilton said there was a sense that after watching the 49ers' videos "there was too much over-confidence. I never felt we had an edge."

Wilton said his instinct was proven when the Warriors sputtered at the end of Game 1 and failed to close out Game 4.

"When we started to lose the lead, we didn't put the pedal to the floorboard," Wilton said. "Anything that required a mental process went out the window. We started to panic."

Still, Wilton said he was pleased the Warriors were able rally.

Wilton said: "It went from dominating the match to surrendering control of the match to make it anybody's match to them taking control. But we figured out a way to get back into it and somehow pull it out. That part is pretty good."

The rematch between the teams is today, with first serve at 4 p.m. Hawai'i time.