In an outcome that surprised the victors the most, the University of Hawai'i volleyball team rallied to defeat host Southern California in five games yesterday in the Galen Center.

The scores were 30-28, 16-30, 17-30, 32-30, 17-15.

"It's hard to explain how we won," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "All I know is we did."

The Warriors improved to 10-11 overall and 7-9 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. They also vaulted into seventh place with six matches remaining. Only the top eight teams qualify for the MPSF postseason.

The Warriors were without their leading attacker, left-side hitter Jim Clar, who has a sore right (swinging) shoulder.

After Game 2, they were in need of a middle blocker. Matt "Dragon" Rawson, who has a torn right labrum that will require offseason surgery, indicated he was not healthy enough to continue. Keali'i Frank, a former starting middle who has played sparingly the past few weeks, replaced Rawson.

After Game 3, Wilton decided to shred the original blueprint. Game 2, in which the Warriors scored 16 points, was "a major drubbing," Wilton said. "It wasn't much better in Game 3. It was 30-17. We got one point better."

Wilton shuffled the lineup after that.

Brennan Dyer, a second-year freshman who started on the left side in place of Clar, moved to opposite attacker.

Setter Sean Carney shifted to Dyer's previous spot on the left side.

And Nejc Zemljak entered as the setter.

"It became time to invent something," Wilton said. "We were in big trouble in Games 2 and 3."

In the first three games, Dyer tried to steer his spikes around the block instead of slamming away.

"It took three games, but he became pretty effective," Wilton said. "He was a big key for us."

Dyer finished with a career-high 15 kills.

Joshua Walker, the second left-side hitter, pounded 14 kills (against three errors) in 30 swings.

"Josh had a real nice match," Wilton said.

And Wilton said that Carney "was good as a sparkplug. He really gave us a lift when we switched him to outside hitter."

When it was over, Wilton was left in a daze.

"When you lose (after scoring) 16 and 17, and come back and win Games 4 and 5, that's pretty amazing, actually," Wilton said. "We invoked every emotion known to man. That was smoke and mirrors."

The Warriors will not practice today.

Tomorrow they will take a head count of available players before practicing in Cal State Northridge's facilities. The teams play Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wilton said Clar will be examined in Los Angeles.