In a volleyball season-opener that looked like it might last until December, seventh-ranked Hawai'i improbably overcame 19th-ranked Pepperdine last night, 25-30, 26-30, 30-25, 33-31, 17-15, before a crowd of 6,567 at Stan Sheriff Center.

In the process, the Rainbow Wahine fought off five match points and found their passing — at least for one night — in a 5-foot-2 package named Jayme Lee. The walk-on freshman out of Hawai'i Baptist Academy came in at libero in the third game and turned the match upside down.

"Jayme Lee came in and steadied our passing," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "She played very inspired defense. I give her a lot of credit for that turnaround. We started to block a little better. We started just to play better. We were just frozen in the first two games. We couldn't move, couldn't execute anything.

"It was the worst we could have ever imagined playing."

Hawai'i all but gave Pepperdine the first two games with passing breakdowns. The Waves, who started three freshmen, didn't need that much help. Their serving was superb and they looked like the most poised team much of the night, thanks in large part to their libero. Kamehameha graduate Kekai Crabbe was phenomenal, finishing with 31 digs and giving the Waves the stability Hawai'i sorely lacked early. But Pepperdine could not close and still might not understand why.

Lee, who just said "uh oh" when Shoji told her to change into the libero uniform after Game 2, said she found the atmosphere on the floor calm and cohesive when she came out.

"When everybody started coming together it sparked everything," Lee said. "Every single player said we're not losing this match. This is our game, our arena, our time."

The 'Bows, who started three sophomores, erased four match points in the fourth to give themselves a chance to win a game that started with the Waves scoring eight of the first nine points.

Hawai'i hung on and finally caught them at 26, only to have Pepperdine pull ahead, 29-27. Then Kiah Fiers, who looked like anything but a freshman setter while finding all the hot hands much of the night, served into the net.

The Waves would get three more chances at the game. Tara Hittle buried two and Juliana Sanders the other. Jamie Houston tied it at 32, then shared the winning stuff with Sanders.

The final game was tied a dozen times as the Rainbows let a 4-1 advantage get away and returned to what they did best — hanging on for dear life. Pepperdine got to 14 first on freshman Rachel Lumsden's 23rd kill.

In a frantic series, UH's Jessica Keefe desperately dug a ball, then teamed with Kari Gregory to stuff Sophia Milo, who was just as efficient as Lumsden (.344 hitting) and nearly as prolific (17 kills).

Lumsden hit out to give Hawai'i its first serve for the match. Milo killed it, but Gregory and Keefe produced one last roof and Sanders smoked the winning kill after a Houston dig.

"We needed that urgency we came out with in the first and second games," Crabbe said. "We didn't continue that in the third game and we needed to get that consistency right back. We got it back some in the fourth game. The fifth was up and down but more up."

The Rainbow Wahine finished with all five hitters in double figures for kills, led by Houston with 21.

NOTES

UH sophomore Nickie Thomas made her first collegiate start last night, but did not make it through the first game. Juliana Sanders replaced her with Hawai'i trailing 24-18. A UH spokesperson said after the game that Thomas had not been cleared to play, following a new UH policy that does not allow the school to release information about a student-athlete's health. Thomas sat in sweats the rest of the night with her left ankle wrapped and elevated.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.