The Hawai'i volleyball team withstood a frenetic challenge and opposite attacker Ian Anderson's tireless left arm for a 30-25, 30-21, 26-30, 30-26 victory over Loyola (of Chicago) last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors scored the final five points — three when the Ramblers hit into the net — to improve to 8-9.

The Ramblers, despite Anderson's match-high 33 kills, fell to 10-8.

Relying on accurate passing and a heat-seeking block, the Warriors dominated the first two games. But Loyola coach Shane Davis' paint-melting speech between Games 2 and 3 turned the momentum.

"It was kind of a harsh locker-room talk after Game 2," Davis said. "I kind of called them on a few things, had some words with them. They responded well to it."

Anderson said: "He told us to 'Man up.' That was our motto the rest of the match."

Anderson, indeed, was The Man, launching blistering shots off of full-bodied windups. In the first two games, most of his kills came from the corners of the front row. After that, he expanded his repertoire to the D set — the right side behind the 3-meter line, which offered a panoramic view of the Warriors' defense.

"My arm's all good," said Anderson, who refused an ice pack after the match. "I like taking a lot of swings. It's fun. It's my speciality."

UH middle blocker Matt "Dragon" Rawson, who has a torn labrum in his right (swinging) shoulder, was pulled at the start of the Game 3. "Maybe the other five guys psychologically relaxed — 'Oh, coach, is subbing,' " UH coach Mike Wilton said.

Taking advantage of UH's inaccurate serves in Game 3, the Ramblers stormed to a 6-0 lead. They built nine-point leads six times in the third game.

Davis said his team "came out fired up and responded well."

Wilton brought back Rawson for Game 4. Rawson grimaced with every swing.

"It's not going to stop hurting," Rawson said. "I take Advil."

The Warriors were able to regain control with improved serving. While Anderson earned his points, his Loyola teammates struggled against the UH block. The Warriors amassed 18.5 blocks, led by Steven Grgas' 10.

Grgas played despite a head cold.

"I've been sick all week," Grgas said. "But I had more focus. That's what I got out of the sickness. You're more focused when you're sick. I was running out of energy and my head was dying, but I told Jake (Schkud), 'We've got to get a little more fire. We can't lose this.'"

And what the middles couldn't block, libero Ric Cervantes had to track. Cervantes had a forearm-numbing 16 digs, most air-mailed by Anderson.

"The guy was unstoppable," Cervantes said. "I was in the right spot a lot of times."

UH setter Sean Carney had early success feeding pipe sets to Jim Clar behind the 3-meter line. Clar slammed a team-high 20 kills. But eventually the Ramblers were able to defend the pipe attacks.

With the middle options limited because of Rawson's sore shoulder and Grgas' head cold, Carney used his creativity to still find Schkud, Clar and the revolving cast at the second left-side position.

"Sean did a good job," Schkud said.

And it was Carney who delivered the parting shots. Grgas' spike found the left corner, tying it at 26 in Game 4 and sending Carney behind the service line.

Carney's first three jump serves led to bad passes and, for the Ramblers, worse results — a double-contact violation and consecutive spikes into the net. At aloha ball, Carney's serve touched the court an inch from libero Derek Jensen's fingertips for a walk-off ace.

"I was tired, but I knew my responsibility, first and foremost, was to serve it the best I could," Carney said.

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

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.