In an emotional match, the Hawai'i volleyball team defeated Pacific, 30-20, 31-29, 30-28 tonight in the Stan Sheriff Center.

Earlier in the day, Mike Wilton announced he was stepping down as UH's head coach after 17 years. Wilton's contract expires June 30, but he decided not to seek an extension.

The players, who were stunned into silenced, responded in a loud way. Joe Strotman buried a team-high 13 kills, and Steven Hunt hammered 12 kills in two sets.

Joshua Walker slammed 10 kills against no errors in 17 swings. He only played in the third set.

Kevin Pratte led Pacific with 17 kills.

Pacific's best attacker had a difficult night. Jeff Hendershot had no kills and five attack errors in seven swings, hitting negative .714. He was lifted after the first set, and made only one-play appearances in each of the final two sets.

For the Warriors, the theme was accurate passing, which helped Sean Carney, who was playing setter for only the second time in the past six weeks. Carney was able to feed the middle and pin hitters.

The Warriors were able to use their second-string players in the third set.

UH, which improved to 8-17 and 5-15 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, closes its season with two matches against Southern California Friday and next Saturday.