For the final drive, the Hawai'i volleyball team vows not to be in neutral.

"We're going to practice hard and we're going to play hard," outside hitter Joshua Walker said.

At 3-15 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the Warriors are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Eight of the 12 teams advance to the MPSF postseason tournament.

The Warriors, who are in 11th place, close the season with matches tomorrow and Saturday against Pacific, and two matches against Southern California next week.

"We have to play for pride," said outside hitter Sean Carney, one of three Warrior seniors. "If anything else, we have to go out and have fun. It's been an unfortunate year, but we owe it to our fans and each other to play these last matches as if they're national championship matches."

Carney attended Lewis University as a freshman before transferring to UH in August 2005. In his first two Warrior seasons, Carney said, "our team was 1 or 2 in the nation. I experienced a lot of good that a lot of players don't experience."

But key injuries and withdrawals hindered the Warriors the past two seasons. They failed to make the playoffs last year.

Freshmen Steven Hunt and Gus Tuaniga were expected to solve the Warriors' passing problems this season. But Hunt missed more than a month because of a fractured right hand, and Tuaniga was benched for four matches because of unexcused absences from classes. The Warriors have used numerous lineups in search of accurate passing.

"It's really frustrating," Walker said. "We know we could have done so much better. We know we should have made the playoffs this year. It's really frustrating we're so inconsistent. There's not much we can do about it now. We have to keep practicing hard and trying to get better. It's tough because we want to win for our seniors."

Of the Warriors' struggles, Carney said, "Everybody has their own opinions. The main thing is: we didn't get the wins."

UH coach Mike Wilton said he was not prepared to announce a lineup after yesterday's two-hour practice.

"We have another day (of practice)," Wilton said.