LONG BEACH, Calif. — Hawai'i volleyball is coming home to play, with its seniors leading the way.

The 12th-ranked Rainbow Wahine stared down former nemesis — with an emphasis on former — Long Beach State last night in the second round of the NCAA Championship at The Walter Pyramid. The 'Bows beat the 49ers in every phase, from athleticism to smarter smack-talking and ultimately points, 30-28, 30-25, 24-30, 30-17.

With the win, before 1,803, Hawai'i (28-5) gave head coach Dave Shoji the perfect 60th birthday present: A place in the Honolulu Regional, which begins Friday with UH playing fifth-seeded Southern California (27-4) at Stan Sheriff Center. It is the Rainbows' 23rd regional appearance and ninth in a row.

Few have been sweeter. Earlier, when Hawai'i had lost three starters to injury and was questioning everything from its passing to its personality, this 15-match winning streak appeared improbable, if not impossible.

And Shoji, whose birthday is tomorrow, had never beaten LBSU at its Pyramid. Even at his advanced age, he vividly recalls the 49ers ending five promising seasons from 1989 to '94.

But the 'Bows broke that string six years ago in Hawai'i, shooting down the 49ers in a five-game regional semifinal. Last night, the Rainbows went one better, silencing the 49ers (26-6) and their fans and preventing them from advancing to a regional for the fifth straight year.

"It felt like old times out there with Long Beach State," Shoji said. "I didn't have the heart to tell my team we had never beaten Long Beach in this building or much in the NCAAs at all. They've owned us over the years."

Before last night, Hawai'i had not won here since 1994 and Long Beach State was 28-1 in NCAA matches at The Pyramid.

But that was then, and this was now. The four-time national champion Rainbows have rejuvenated themselves and their dreams the past two weeks while the three-time national champion 49ers are finished in a season where they were ranked — No. 25 — for only one week.

"Nobody on our team could hurt them," LBSU coach Brian Gimmillaro said.

"In the fourth game Hawai'i came out really strong, their serving and all," added 49er libero Talaya Whitfield. "We didn't have it in us to come back. Well we did, but they caught us off guard at first."

When it was over, the rarely demonstrative Shoji hugged his players and all the coaches joined the huddle for a celebratory dance while the 49ers sadly sang their fight song.

The contrast was shocking, and so was the difference in the teams in the final game. After swiping the first two ragged games with an impressive knockout punch, the Rainbows let the heat of the moment, and 49ers Robin Miramontes and Whitfield, get to them in Game 3.

But in Game 4, the Rainbow Wahine came back poised and nearly perfect. They scored eight of the first 11, stretched their advantage to 25-15, then fed red-hot senior Sarah Mason for her 24th kill to end the 49ers' season.

Mason was the leader of the angry Rainbow Wahine pack in a match that the officials nearly lost control of at the end of Game 2, when both sides were screaming at each other.

"We're never mad," Mason insisted. "It's just a steady focus. Play aggressive, always aggressive ... use your anger to fuel you, not get mad."

"Focused aggression the whole game," agreed sophomore Jamie Houston, who got 13 of her 19 kills in the final two games. "Never get mad."

All-America setter Kanoe Kamana'o, who set the tone early by stuffing The Beach's left side, always had it in perspective.

"They are a very competitive team and so are we," Kamana'o said. "It was going back and forth both ways. When the calls went to their advantage it got us riled up a little bit and we were able to capitalize on it."

The Beach took UH out of its offense early and often in Game 1 with its serving. The 'Bows missed six serves, but still held on behind Mason, the serves that did go in and blocking. In the last three matches, UH is averaging more than five stuffs a game.

Kamana'o put Hawai'i on her 5-foot-8 shoulders, stuffing Long Beach lefts three times and chasing down every errant pass to keep UH alive in a game that was tied 10 times, the last at 19.

The 'Bows scored the next three points to open an advantage that would grow to 29-24. The 49ers fought off three game points with their defense, but when Kamana'o finally got a perfect pass, she isolated Mason to end it loudly.

The senior had nine of Hawai'i's 15 kills in the game, most over 5-8 LBSU setter Nicole Vargas (daughter of two-time Olympian Debbie Green). The Beach barely matched Mason, getting just 10 and hitting negative .021; its left sides combined for no kills and seven errors in 21 swings.

It got louder in Game 2, with every block — each team had four — instigating more talk. It got so bad that when Whitfield started toward the 'Bows — after her team had already received two yellow-card warnings — the normally imperturbable Kamana'o said something to the official. LBSU coach Brian Gimmillaro would later get yet another yellow card.

"Brian likes to stir up things. I think he does it to fire his team up," Shoji said. "He's been known to do that. He knows what he's doing. The players got a little excitable and you don't like to see that on either side of the net. I told our players that stuff has got to stop. We celebrate with ourselves, don't talk across the net. Emotions were running high out there."

At that point, Hawai'i had clawed out a 29-23 advantage, again gaining separation — at 22-18 — on a 3-0 run with freshman libero Jayme Lee serving. The surge that put the Beach away came on a Kari Gregory kill and consecutive hitting errors by co-Big West Player of the Year Alexis Crimes — the first sailing far out and the second stuffed by Mason and Juliana Sanders. Mason again put down game point — her 14th kill of the night.

But the Beach wasn't done. It rallied behind defense, with libero Whitfield getting 13 digs, and Miramontes, who finally gave the 49ers outside offense with nine third-game kills. LBSU pulled ahead 28-19 and held on to force a fourth game.

Hawai'i composed itself and clobbered The Beach, with junior defensive specialist Raeceen Woolford offering a huge lift — and the first kill of her career — in the back row.

Kamana'o never doubted it would end the way it did, nor did any of her teammates.

"At the beginning of the match we were so focused and confident in each other," she said. "We knew we could win this match if we looked toward each other and that's what we did throughout the match tonight."

Shoji also tried to downplay the inspiration of playing back in Hawai'i before the match, afraid his team would become overwhelmed by its fans' expectations. That made the thought of getting seniors Kamana'o, Mason and Cayley Thurlby a hana hou at home even sweeter.

"We couldn't put that on the team," Shoji said. "We play for each other. The side effects are the university and the state. Basically it was for us and now we get to share it with everybody else."

After the third game, Shoji knew this one would be special — if it didn't prevent him from reaching his 60th birthday.

"If we would have lost in five I probably would have committed suicide or something," he joked. "It would have been a terrible loss. But our team wasn't fazed by losing Game 3.

"We actually didn't play that well in Game 1 or 2 and we won. My feeling was, if we start playing better we're going to win the match."

NOTES

Kari Gregory's record-breaking blocking performance against Oregon Tuesday erased two marks. Her 14 blocks were one better than Suzanne Eagye's 13 in a three-game match, set in 1985. It was also a rally-scoring record (from 2001), breaking Victoria Prince's mark of 13 set in a five-game win over Nevada in 2004. ... Hawai'i is now unbeaten in 13 NCAA second-round matches. ... Kanoe Kamana'o moved into ninth in NCAA's career assists last night.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.