In 29 years of head coaching, Hawai'i's Mike Wilton has never had a losing regular season.

But now, out of lifelines, the Warriors will need to win their final 10 regular-season matches to extend the streak. The Warriors are 3-13 overall and 3-11 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

"It's been an adjustment," said Wilton, whose team hosts Cal State Northridge tomorrow and Saturday.

Wilton said the goal is not to let the record "define our self image."

"I know I'm doing the best that I know how," Wilton added. "I know my coaching staff is, too. And I know the players are trying as hard as they can. Question: Are we getting better? Absolutely we're getting better. I appreciate that the attitude has been great, there's been no finger-pointing that I know of, and they keep coming back for more. That explains why we keep getting better."

Setter Brian Beckwith said the Warriors are focused solely on qualifying for the eight-team MPSF playoffs.

"We're forgetting our record," Beckwith said. "If we dwell on the losses we'll never be able to get past them. The only way we come into practices every day is thinking it's going to turn around."

After two months of test cases, the Warriors have settled on this lineup: Beckwith; middle blockers Dio Dante and Matt Rawson; left-side hitters Matt Vanzant and Eric Kalima; opposite attacker Lauri Hakala, and libero Rick Cervantes.

Ten days ago, Hakala was on the left side, Kalima was the libero and Cervantes was in limbo. Kalima and Cervantes are accurate primary passers, and Vanzant has developed into a capable defensive player.

"I'm excited that our passing is going to be a whole lot stronger," Vanzant said. "That's the key to our whole offense. If we have good passes, we'll have good play."

The rotation change helps Hakala reclaim his role as go-to hitter. An opposite attacker receives more sets but fewer opportunities to pass. Hakala was an All-America opposite attacker last season before moving to left-side hitter during this season's second week.

Hakala said he is adjusting to opposite, where he hits on the right side in five rotation turns. Of his expanded role in the offense, Hakala said: "It's easy to do that when you don't have so many things on your plate. I feel more comfortable on the right."

Dante resumed practicing yesterday. Two weeks ago, he stepped on a wana (sea urchin). The tip of the wana is imbedded in his left foot. Although he played against Pepperdine last week, the left foot became infected. "It's like a big swollen balloon on my foot," said Dante, who is being treated with antibiotics.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.