Hawai'i's improbable postseason volleyball run took on magical dimensions last night when the 12th-seeded Rainbow Wahine upset fifth-seeded Southern California to soar a step from the NCAA Championship final four.

The 'Bows (29-5) won their Honolulu Regional semifinal, 28-30, 30-21, 21-30, 30-27, 15-5. They scored 11 straight points in the final game to devastate the Trojans, whose season ended at 27-5.

"I told my team that was one of the most entertaining matches I've ever coached in and watched," said UH coach Dave Shoji. "Everything that we worked hard for was realized tonight — blocking, passing, all the skills and all the hours ... you saw our team just perform the skills the way they had to to win the match.

"Our kids just hung in there. We found some energy in Game 4 and it just carried over to Game 5. I have no explanation for Game 5. Obviously their setter was a little hurt and their hitter looked like she was hurt too, but we played a flawless Game 5. It was a great win."

Hawai'i plays fourth-seeded UCLA in tonight's (6:30 p.m.) regional championship. The winner goes to next week's final four in Omaha, Neb. The Bruins swept UH earlier this season and barely broke a sweat last night in an imposing performance against 13th-seeded Oklahoma.

But, on a night of lopsided regional semifinals, the NCAA saved the best for last. USC, looking for its seventh national title, sent Asia Kaczor and a complement of huge co-stars at the Rainbows, who responded with their best match of the year — for the sixth straight match.

Behind All-American Kanoe Kamana'o and outside hitters Jamie Houston (a career-high 35 kills) and Sarah Mason (her first 20-20 match with 24 kills and 22 digs), the Rainbows overwhelmed USC at the end, before 7,006 joyous fans at Stan Sheriff Center.

"We've had 7,000 in the building before, but it's not been that loud," said Shoji, who has led his team to four national titles, the last in 1987.

Game 4 was tied 11 times, the last at 24. The 'Bows scored the next two points on a Mason dink and Kamana'o's stuff of 6-foot-3 Bethany Johnson. They desperately held that advantage with Houston getting three kills around a block by Amber Kaufman and Juliana Sanders to close.

"I thought if we could get to Game 4," Shoji said, "and put some pressure on them and get them thinking about, 'Oh my gosh, this might go five' — put some doubt in their mind in Game 4, which we did ... it was in their head that 'Wow, Hawai'i is good, we're going five.' "

The final game was described best by USC coach Mick Haley: "A debacle."

"In the end," said Haley, "we made too many errors and Hawai'i didn't."

Haley took responsibility for his team's Game-5 collapse. After starting different rotations all night in an effort to get better matchups, he went with the rotation that had served him best all season in the final game, "even though the numbers in the match weren't good."

"As it turned out," Haley said, "we couldn't get the ball down."

The Trojans hit negative .048 in Game 5, or about 700 points lower than Hawai'i (.643), which went a remarkable 9-for-14; Houston was 7-for-9. "Houston," Haley said sadly, "went off tonight."

With the game tied at 3, Houston buried her third kill in four swings. Kamana'o got the serve and kept lining it at Kaczor — 10 straight times.

A Mason dig was shoved into the corner of the USC court by Houston. The sophomore brought out a whole new set of spectacular shots for this one and hit a remarkable .397.

"She was hitting the ball like no one could touch her," Mason marveled. "She was something else tonight. I keep saying when someone is on fire, you've got to keep firing them. She was just up and over that block."

Kaczor hit out and the Trojans took time. Kaczor, who plays on the Polish national team, hit out again and so did Diane Copenhagen — who had 17 kills — after Sanders' eighth kill of the night.

USC took time again. Too late.

Houston crunched another kill for 10-3, then stuffed Kaczor with Sanders. Kaufman got a kill and Houston crunched another. Then Kaufman and Sanders stuffed a ball on top of Copenhagen's head.

Two meaningless USC kills later, Houston, of course, buried match ball. Mason, on her knees, crawled to her teammate and hugged her around the waist while the celebration roared.

It was a replay — kicked up a notch — of the end of every match at the WAC Tournament and the blowouts of Oregon and Long Beach State at last week's subregional. And everyone, again, had a part.

Sanders was in on a career-high 14 of Hawai'i's 18 blocks. That tied the school rally-scoring record set a week earlier by Kari Gregory.

Sanders, and Kamana'o and seemingly every other Rainbow were up in the face of Kaczor, the Pac-10 point leader, all night. She led the Trojans with 22 kills, but hit just .125. After starting the match by drilling five of her six swings, she had 17 kills and 14 errors in her final 58 attempts — a .052 percentage.

"We just put two people front of her," Shoji said. "She has her favorite shots and we tried to take them away. We kept touching a lot of balls. We rarely blocked her but we touched a lot.

"I don't think we were ready for the pace of her attack at the start. Once we figured that out we got up and over a little better. She has a really quick arm. We needed to pick up our pace, of the whole game actually. We started out real slow."

Even Houston and Mason started slow, then began battering USC, which averages 6-2 across the net.

"Kanoe kept setting Mason because she had the setter on her and she just kept going over her," Houston said. "All I could do was watch the show."

Along with 7,000 frenzied fans.

"It's an amazing feeling when you're out on the court and hear that crowd," Mason said. "It's an unbelievable feeling knowing they are cheering for you. I think it's a little intimidating for the other team too, so I encourage them to do it tomorrow night."

NOTES

UH has won its past 11 NCAA Tournament matches at home, and its past 16 this season. ... The Rainbows ended their past two seasons in the Sweet 16, after reaching three of the previous four final fours.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.