The University of Hawai'i volleyball team is out of lifelines after last night's 30-26, 30-28, 24-30, 30-27 loss to Brigham Young in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,322 watched the Warriors fall to 10-14 overall and 7-12 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Warriors, who are in ninth place, need to win their final three regular-season matches, beginning with tonight's rematch against BYU, to have a chance to qualify for the eight-team MPSF postseason.

"Everyone is like, 'You've got to win your next match,' " UH setter Sean Carney said. "We know that. It's not like we're trying to lose. We know we're facing a must-win (match). We've been through must-win (matches) for about three weeks. It's not easy. Every team in our league is good."

Despite what UH coach Mike Wilton described as a "horrible, just horrible start," the Warriors played well in the final three games.

They fought to tie it at 28 in Game 2 before opposite attacker Jonathan Charette blasted a spike through a double block, and Trent Sorenson and Jeff Robinson collaborated to reject Brennon Dyer for game point.

In Game 4, the Warriors took a 24-23 lead when the Cougars' best attacker, Ivan Perez, hit wide. But the Cougars regained the lead for good when Carney served into the net and left-side hitter Joshua Walker trespassed the 3-meter line on a back-row attack.

Perez, who had difficulty navigating the Warriors' block most of the night, scored three of the Cougars' final six points.

"They were blocking me really well," said Perez, who mostly hit from the front left. "I wasn't making myself available to swing. Toward the end, they started keying on our middles. (Outside hitter) Andrew Stewart played really well. They started to key on them, and it opened up for me to get a few kills in the end."

Meanwhile, Walker shrugged off a difficult start to amass a match-high 29 kills, 24 of them coming in the final three games. Walker was at his best teeing off on pipe sets from the middle of the back row.

"Once Josh got out of first gear in Game 1, he loosened up a little bit and was a pretty good force as a hitter," Wilton said.

Walker said: "I had to play better. It was frustrating. I wasn't keeping my serve in. I wasn't passing that well. I figured I had to star somewhere."

Walker's point production coincided with his improved passing. The Cougars' strategy was this: serve floaters or sizzlers to Walker or Jacob Schkud, the other left-side hitter. Walker, who was the recipient of 28 serves, relinquished three aces.

"They were coming at me," said Walker, a second-year freshman. "I was getting rattled. I have to stay focused through that. It's frustrating passing sometimes. When you hit, it's adrenaline. You go for it. You have to calm down and take your time (when you're passing)."

The Warriors were without their most productive hitter, Jim Clar, and middle blocker Matt "Dragon" Rawson. Both are pau for the year because of shoulder injuries. Dyer, whose four kills were offset by five errors, started in place of Clar. Nemanja "Nemo" Komar replaced Dyer at the start of Game 3, and finished with eight kills in 15 swings and an ace.

"Nemo gave us a lift," Wilton said.

Still, it has not been easy to undergo still another lineup change.

"Every day we're throwing another piece into the puzzle," Carney said. "It's tough to get used to a new lineup in three days and come out firing. We're throwing people out there and seeing what we can do with them. It's a different chemistry. We don't run the same tempo balls. It's a lot different chemistry.

"But it's a situation we have to deal with," he added. "The good thing is we picked it up. I saw a lot of heart in our teammates. They picked up their game. I could see in their eyes they really wanted to win."

Schkud said the Warriors need a strong start in tonight's final home match of the season. This also will be the final home match for Schkud, the Warriors' lone senior. UH closes the regular season with two road matches against Pepperdine.

"We know we have to come in and play better," Schkud said. "We can't put too much pressure on ourselves. When you play desperate, you're trying too hard. We need to play our own game, the one we're used to playing."

Three Cougars — Charette and middle blockers Russell Holmes and Sorenson — each contributed 10 kills.

Visit Tsai's blog at www.HawaiiWarriorBeat.com.