It's been about goal-setting from the moment Hawaii met its new coaching staff last fall.

Becoming a better player than the last practice, last week, last season. Becoming a better volleyball team than the last practice, last week, last season.

The goals were set high and the players challenged to believe that anything was possible.

Have a top-eight finish to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Have a top-four finish to host for the first time since 2006.

Two goals down, a third within reach tonight: win a playoff match for the first time since 2003.

While it's hard not to think ahead to what next week could bring and would mean, Hawaii has been very good about following the philosophic game plan. The Warriors seemingly continue to borrow pages from “;Meditations,”; one of the works of Marcus Aurelius, living one of the Roman emperor's famous quotes:

“;Confine yourself to the present.”;

That present is tonight in the form of No. 5 Pepperdine, the team Hawaii split with a month ago in Malibu, Calif. The teams traded sweeps, with the point differential (178-171) being the tiebreaker that has the Warriors at home as the fourth seed instead of back in Malibu as the fifth.

“;We talked before about the parity, and many times parity means average,”; Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said yesterday. “;That is not the case this year.

“;The league was really good, and I can't remember a better Hawaii team. (Ric) Cervantes has been outstanding, their freshman (Jonas Umlauft) has been outstanding. They've got good middles, good outsides, more depth than we do. But what we wanted to do was put ourselves in a position to make the playoffs and we did. Now it's about being in position to win this one.”;

Pepperdine has had much success in the Stan Sheriff Center, defeating Hawaii the last six meetings in Honolulu. Throw that out, the Hall of Fame coach said.

“;It's a different season, different teams,”; said Dunphy, who earned his 500th victory this season.

While conventional wisdom gives the advantage to the home team, “;this first round is anyone's ballgame,”; John Kosty, coach of top-seeded Stanford, said. “;I believe there are eight teams that have a legitimate chance to win the MPSF tournament title. I also believe there are eight (MPSF) teams that could win the NCAA championship.”;

The Warriors certainly believe they can do both. But first they have to take care of the Waves.

“;Beating them (last month) gives us a lot of confidence, but they should have a lot of confidence as well,”; Cervantes, the program's all-time dig leader, said. “;They beat us in three, we beat them in three. They won't be afraid of us and we're not afraid of them.

“;It sounds cliche, but it does come down to serving and passing. If we take care of that part of the game, it makes things way easier.”;

The match features five players who were named to Thursday's All-MPSF teams and two honorable mentions. Leading the Waves are junior hitter Cory Riecks (3.96 kps), junior setter Kasey Crider, the national assist leader (14.16 asp), senior hitter J.D. Schleppenbach (2.80 kps) and junior middle Tyler Jaynes (1.56 bps).

The Warriors counter with Umlauft, the MPSF freshman of the year, who leads the league in kills (5.20 kps) and points (5.88 pps); explosive junior hitter Joshua Walker (4.40 kps); and junior setter Nejc Zemljak (13.08 aps).

Notes

More than 4,300 tickets have been sold as of yesterday. ... Next week's MPSF semifinals and final will be held at the home of the highest remaining seed from tonight's quarterfinals. No. 1 Stanford hosts defending NCAA champion UC Irvine, No. 2 Brigham Young hosts UCLA and No. 3 Cal State Northridge hosts preseason No. 1 USC.