Third-ranked Hawai‘i overcame a third-set hiccup to defeat 15th-ranked Southern California, 25-20, 25-18, 16-25, 27-25, tonight in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship.

It is the second straight year the ‘Bows (30-2) won won a subregional by beating the Trojans (20-10) in their Galen Center.
It was also the 26th consecutive win for Hawai‘i, and its 18th season with 30 wins.
The 12th-seeded Rainbows play fifth-seeded Illinois Friday in the Stanford Regional. It is their 11th regional in 12 years. The team returns home tomorrow for two days of school.
Sophomore All-American Kanani Danielson again led the Rainbows, with 23 kills — seven in the final set. Libero Liz Ka‘aihue added 20 digs.
Hawai‘i held the Trojans, who had won their last seven, to .097 hitting.
After seven ties, Hawai‘i broke open the first set with a 7-0 surge on Jayme Lee’s serve, to go up 15-9. USC could muster just one three-point rally and never got within three again, finishing with as many attack errors as kills (9).
Alex Jupiter, the Trojans leading hitter who ranks 11th nationally in kills, went zero-for-the-set and did not get her first kill until the match was 34 minutes old.
The Rainbows got five kills from Danielson in the opening set, and middles Amber Kaufman (4) and Brittany Hewitt combined for six kills and hit .400-plus.
Danielson pulled into that elevated air space in the second set, burying seven kills in 11 swings. Hawai‘i scored in bunches, getting six points on Stephanie Brandt’s serve to go up 6-2 and widening the gap when Dani Mafua served five in a row.
At that stage, USC trailed 13-6 and was out of timeouts. Kaufman ended the only USC mini-rally with three kills in the final five serves.
Jupiter had oneand was hitting negative .263 going into the third set. Senior Jessica Gysin, the Trojans other all-conference hitter, had two kills and was hitting negative .067.
They finished with a combined seven kills, both hitting negative to the end. Sophomore Lauren Williams had 14 kills and hit .407 to lead the Trojans.
In the third set Hawai‘i’s attack faltered. USC scored seven straight, six coming on UH hitting errors, to go ahead 11-4. The Rainbows, suddenly out of offense, had no answer. They hit negative .100 for the set while the Trojans won with just eight kills.
From there, it was a battle of attrition. UH built a 12-7 advantage. USC came back, scoring five in a row on Jupiter’s serve to go ahead 15-14.
From there it was tied until 19-all, when Lee served the Rainbows into a 23-20 lead. The Trojans countered by stuffing Kaufman twice and she hit long.
Hawai‘i called time up 23-22, but lost the next two points to give USC set point. Danielson buried it from the back row and Aneli Cubi-Otineru saved another moments later. She and Hewitt got a block to give UH match point, and Hewitt stuffed Williams to end it.