This is spring break for the University of Hawai'i volleyball team, which arrived last night in La Jolla, one of the most beautiful areas in Southern California.

But all of the fun-under-the-sun activities mean little to the Warriors.

"We're only thinking about volleyball," middle blocker Dio Dante said of road matches against UC San Diego tomorrow and Friday. "It's time for us. We have to win every match from here on out. Even then, we might not make (the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs). But we're going to go down fighting."

Only the top eight teams qualify for the MPSF playoffs. The Warriors are in 10th place with a 5-11 MPSF record. But eighth-place Southern California is 7-9, and the Warriors final six regular-season matches are against three teams in the 12-team MPSF's bottom third — UC San Diego (2-14), Long Beach State (6-10) and Stanford (2-14).

"We played a lot of hard teams in the beginning," Dante said. "We have some pretty good matchups going on at the end of the season."

After the Warriors' spirited practice in the Stan Sheriff Center yesterday, head coach Mike Wilton said of his players: "They're locked into it really good. They're using each day to get better. They know what the score is. We don't have to worry about other teams doing us a favor. That's not the issue. We can completely control whether we get into the playoffs or not. Completely."

The Warriors most likely would have to win their final six matches. "Or close to it," Wilton said.

The Warriors have played more confidently in recent weeks. In losing 13 of their first 16 matches, the Warriors struggled to find a cohesive rotation. Through that, the Warriors vowed they would eventually put together a winning streak. That started two weeks ago, and now the Warriors have won four in a row.

"Nostradamus," setter Brian Beckwith said of his predicted turnaround. "We have a young team. It's not easy to step in and play well at this level. Everybody is as good as you are. It comes down to the little things. It was going to take time for our team, especially with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores on the court. But I knew it would come around, and lo and behold, it has."

The turnaround started with improved passing. When Eric Kalima moved back to outside hitter, opening the way for freshman libero Ric Cervantes, the Warriors essentially had a lineup of two defensive specialists. That also freed Matt Vanzant and Lauri Hakala to focus more on offense.

"We knew it had to come on sometime, and it did," Vanzant said. "It would have been better if it were sooner, but it's better later than never."

The Warriors took 12 players on this trip, one fewer than usual. Middle blocker Kyle Klinger rejoins the team next week from a sabbatical.

Middle blocker Matt Rawson said he will play despite a sprained right thumb and hyper-extended left elbow.

Steven Grgas, who moved from opposite attacker two weeks ago, is the top backup at middle. Jake Schkud also can play there in an emergency.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.