It was a gut-check time for the Hawai'i volleyball team. And, in a twist, the Warriors received a boost from a player who is recovering from an abdominal strain.

Seizing a starring role in a cameo appearance, Jim Clar assisted on five blocks in a first-to-15 decisive game to lift the Warriors to a 30-25, 30-24, 28-30, 27-30, 15-7 victory over UC San Diego in the Stan Sheriff Center last night.

"What Jimbo did was just ridiculous," co-captain Jake Schkud said. "He really came through."

Middle blocker Steven Grgas said: "He was our sparkplug."

The Warriors dominated the first two games, but then served tentatively as the Tritons rallied to win Games 3 and 4.

"We were serving to get it over instead of serving aggressively," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "Our ability to sideout went south for a little bit."

The Warriors were unable to get enough oomph on their serves to force the Tritons out of rhythm. That enabled Billy Arnold, who replaced starting setter Phil Bannan at the start of Game 3, to launch quick sets to his corner attackers. Frank Fritsch finished with 25 kills, and Jason Spangler had 21, including 11 in Game 4.

"For a young team like this, it's a pretty grim task," Wilton said. "You win the first two, then all of a sudden it's a war, and we're going to Game 5. I was interested to see what would happen. They stepped up to the plate."

The surge started with a pinch-hitter. Clar, who has been on restricted duty because of the abdominal strain, was summoned to replace Sean Carney, who had made his second career start at outside hitter.

"It helped that I was able to watch what was going on the whole match," Clar said. "Once I went in, I knew what I had to do. The coaches told me about the blocking assignments."

Clar realized that Spangler was aiming down the line when he was at the front left.

"Sometimes after watching a player hit a little bit, you think you know where he's going," Clar said. "I felt I was reading him really well. I got my hands over (the net), and put myself in position to block balls, and I did."

Three times in Game 5, Spangler was rejected by a block that included some combination of Clar, Grgas and Joshua Walker. Schkud's blistering serves disrupted the Tritons' pass-set-spike system, putting Spangler in poor hitting position. Schkud served eight consecutive points to give the Warriors a 10-1 lead.

Of his productive serving, Schkud said: "It's one of those things we do all of the time in practice. You should never miss a serve. If you hit the ball in, sometimes the other team will make mistakes for you."

Walker, Schkud, Carney and Grgas each had career bests in kills.

Walker slammed 24 high-decibel kills and four aces. One of his serves struck Fritsch's leg as he tried to jump out of the way.

In Wednesday's match between the teams, Walker had 16 kills, but hit only .204. "We watched the tape, and we noticed they blocked me when I tried to hit angles," Walker said. "This time, Nejc (Zemljak) was setting perfectly, and I tried to crush line (shots)."

Grgas, who entered the two-match series with zero kills, had nine with no errors on 14 swings last night. He also had an open hand in 12 of the Warriors' 18.5 blocks, including two solo blocks.

"I was reading it well," Grgas said. "We watched a lot of film. I was watching my foot placement. I usually do a negative step. For instance, I go right and then left, rather than just go left. I picked up on that through practice and film, and it really helped."

The Warriors have won all 39 career matches between the teams.

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

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.