After a shaky start, 11th-ranked Hawai'i picked itself up and success snowballed into a 27-30, 30-28, 30-24, 30-17 non-conference volleyball victory over Loyola Marymount last night.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,562 watched the weary Rainbow Wahine (25-5), anything but fresh off last weekend's Western Athletic Conference championship, fight off the fourth-place team in the West Coast Conference. It was better than that sounds. The WCC has sent three teams to every NCAA Tournament since 1997, and sent twice that many four years ago.

The Lions (16-12) believe their number will be called among the 31 at-large teams when the brackets are announced Sunday. They were No. 50 in the first NCAA power rating last week (UH was 19). They have beaten WCC co-champ Santa Clara since.

They were dead even with Hawai'i after two games last night, and disappointed they weren't ahead. LMU led in every area, with Jamie Houston's 14 kills the only number in the Rainbows' favor.

"If she's on we're not as physical and she was matched up against our freshman setter a lot of tonight," LMU coach Steve Stratos said. "We could have made an adjustment, but we've just played better this way. We've played this lineup the last two weeks and we've played very well, with bad matchups all the time. Tonight it created a lot of problems."

Houston got nine of her 25 kills in the third game, which began with Hawai'i digging itself into a 8-4 hole. The 'Bows caught LMU at 15, after a 7-2 run, then ran off six straight points with Aneli Cubi-Otineru serving to go up 24-19. Only then, did Hawai'i have the sense it was in control.

"We had to work hard for it tonight," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "When you schedule them you think you want that tough game, but we're so tired right now. I'm sure they are tired as well. I was worried about our team tonight, whether we had enough energy. It's been a long year. But they somehow reached down and found something. Especially Aneli, who started out very poorly but just righted the ship and played very well."

The Lions had six service errors and just nine kills in the third, and hit .024. It hardly got better in the final game, when the Rainbows scored 17 of the last 21 points.

By then, the 'Bows had it all going. Stephanie Brandt served six straight, with the Lions — finally weary of the UH block — providing three hitting errors. A few moments later, Tara Hittle served six straight, with Otineru blasting three of her 18 kills and Kari Gregory and the tiny Brandt roofing everything hit their way.

By then it was 28-16 and LMU, as wiped out by last week as the Rainbow Wahine were, was ready to go to the hotel. The teams play again tonight and Hawai'i seniors Caroline Blood, Raeceen Woolford, Juliana Sanders and Gregory will be honored after what will probably be their final home match.

Reserves Gregory (3 blocks), Jayme Lee (10 digs) and Dani Mafua (9 assists) were a critical part of the Rainbows' reversal after Loyola Marymount held off Hawai'i in Game 1. The Lions out-hit the 'Bows by nearly 100 points (.283-.191) in that game, with Otineru struggling to a negative .133 percentage (1 kill, 3 errors, 13 swings).

Otineru fought her way out of the funk in a hurry. She dropped seven kills in Game 2 and Houston had seven more. It was just enough, as neither team could stop the other; Hawai'i hit .396 and LMU .348.

Hittle and Liz Ka'aihue each had 20 digs as the 'Bows out-dug the WCC's best defensive team, 45-24, in the final two games. Sanders hit .579, with 12 kills in 19 swings.

"It's almost an attitude," Hittle said of the momentum her team created. "The will to want to just crush them. And also just being solid in our skills. Everything was just clicking. Good stuff."

Now the Rainbows get to gear up one more time at home, for their seeding and the seniors.

"I think Senior Night will be very emotional so that will help," Shoji said, "but we've just got to grind points out tomorrow night. I'm sure they're in the same situation. A victory tomorrow night for them could be very important for their chances. They might get in anyway, but I think they're a bubble team."

The Lions have been to 10 NCAA Tournaments, but missed out last year.

NOTES

The final "Dave Shoji Show" of the season will be this morning at 8 a.m. on 1420 AM. ... Last time LMU was here (2005), it ended Hawai'i's 205-match win streak over unranked teams. The 'Bows came back to beat the Lions the next night in three. UH has lost to just 10 unranked teams since the poll started in 1982, with three of those losses this year.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.