In a "learning laboratory" humid enough to grow actual cultures, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team fell short in the championship game of their unofficial three-team tournament but nonetheless came away with a deeper understanding of who they are and what they're capable of this season.

A Klum Gym crowd of less than 100 watched as Southern California beat the Warriors in a high-volume, high-intensity 30-24, 25-30, 30-26 and 30-23, to take first place in the two-day UH Fall Tournament, which also featured Brigham Young.

To maximize playing time for all of their players, each team fielded "A" and "B" squads. The three "A" squads plus the winner of the "B" pool round robin advanced to today's final round.

In the third-place game, the BYU "A" squad beat the BYU "B" squad, 15-13 and 15-11.

"We had two really good teams in this tournament and I think we saw some really good volleyball," said UH head coach Mike Wilton. "We wanted to get a lot of guys a lot of playing time, and we did. This is the end of our five weeks of fall training, so we wanted to see if we could get better and better at sustaining a high level of play with not so many peaks and valleys."

Fiery sophomore Joshua Walker led the Warriors with 18 kills on 57 attempts. Freshman Gus Tuaniga added nine kills in just 18 attempts.

Walker and Tuaniga were particularly effective in the second set, which featured 14 ties before the Warriors finally pulled away off a kill from Tuaniga and a series of errors by USC.

With the game tally knotted at 1-1, the match increased in intensity, with both sides barking at each other from across the net and an amped USC bench erupting into celebratory chants that filled the small and mostly empty gym.

While Wilton appreciated the fire his younger players demonstrated, he said he hopes they'll learn to keep their focus on the game itself.

"This is one of those learning laboratories and this match was intense," Wilton said. "There was some yapping at the net, the usual kind of stuff, and one of our young guys didn't handle it so good. They kind of got into his zone. So, that's something we've got to get better at handling."

Libero Ric Cervantes, whose solid overall game was a steadying influence throughout the tournament, said he enjoyed the return to Klum Gym.

"It was pretty cool," Cervantes said. "This is where all the old-time teams played and the coaches from other teams told us, 'Hey, don't knock it. It's a great area.' "

Cervantes said he was encouraged to see his young team improve from it's "nervous and inconsistent" performance against BYU (a 3-1 win) Friday.

"If I had to grade us, I'd give us a 'B-plus,' " he said. "I think we did pretty good. We haven't played our best ball yet, which is always pretty good because this is just the preseason.

Like Wilton, Cervantes said he expects the team to mature as the regular season approaches.

"Everyone on this team, including myself, lets things affect us and we need to learn to block that out," he said. "I think that comes with maturity. Over the next for weeks before the season, if we do that, we'll be a really tough team to beat."