Not Saturday night. Hawaii (11-7) held off a late charge by No. 10 Lewis, 15-9, 15-6, 9-15, 16-14, in a nonconference match that lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes at the Special Events Arena.
The two-match sweep of the Flyers (16-7) did not affect the Rainbows' league standing; they are fourth (6-6), three games behind Stanford, in the Pacific Division of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. But Saturday's win improved Hawaii's collective state of mind as it makes a run at a third consecutive final four appearance in the second half of the season.
"We needed to win a close one," said Hawaii setter Curt Vaughan, who had a career-high 12 block assists. "When it got to be 14-11 in Game 4, I thought a lot of about Santa Barbara."
A month ago, UC Santa Barbara clawed back from an 11-14 Game 4 deficit -- holding off four match-points by Hawaii -- to win it in five. When Lewis rallied to 14-14 in Saturday's Game 4, it took 10 swings but the Rainbows buried that ghost, as well as the Flyers.
"The Santa Barbara match was a crossroads in our season," said Vaughan. "It brought us down (mentally). Saturday was another crossroads and we came through when it got close. I feel we've turned it around and we're on the way back up."
Saturday was also a breakthrough of sorts for junior blocker Rick Tune, who had 3 block solos and 15 assist blocks. He also had 11 kills, hitting .611 with no errors in 18 swings.
"I've been struggling lately, been in a slump," said Tune. "Some nights, you feel in a zone when it comes to blocking. Saturday, I could see the ball well, was seeing where they were going to set the ball before it was set.
"I'm glad Lewis came back at us. They gave us some adversity and we needed that. I think our mindset is different than when we played Santa Barbara. We're wanting the pressure instead of shying away from it."
Hawaii has no place to run. With 10 matches left in the season, eight in the MPSF, every night out is critical.
The Rainbows host Loyola Marymount this Friday and Saturday before entertaining Rutgers-Newark March 28-29. The final road trip of the regular season is at preseason No. 1 Stanford (April 1-2) and surprising Pacific (April 4-5).
The top three teams in each division advance to the April 19 first-round playoffs along with two teams with the next-best league record. If the playoffs were held tomorrow, the Rainbows would be headed to Brigham Young as the fourth-seed from the Pacific.
"I feel good about the rest of the season," said Vaughan. "I think we've got things going for the first time since Penn State (a 3-1 win Jan. 24). My feeling is we've got to quit worrying about things and just go out and play."
Vaughan had the team hitting .358 Saturday night with Jason Ring putting down 23 kills and Aaron Wilton and Naveh Milo 17 each. Sophomore Victor Rivera led Lewis with 29 kills.
Hawaii's 45 team assist blocks were 10 shy of the 1981 record set against Hawaii Pacific.