Hindered by inconsistency and stumped by Penn State's new offense, the Hawai'i volleyball team endured a 30-27, 30-24, 32-30 loss Saturday night in the Outrigger Invitational.

Coupled with Friday's loss to Loyola-Chicago, the Warriors finished last in this two-night, four-team tournament. Brigham Young swept Loyola-Chicago to finish as the only unbeaten team.

"Without a doubt, there's a confidence problem," UH setter Brian Beckwith said. "It's tough playing in your own tournament and getting beat twice. Hopefully, we can bounce back from this."

The road to recovery will not be smooth. The Warriors travel to Los Angeles for matches Wednesday and Friday against 2006 NCAA champion UCLA.

The Warriors could not create any consistent pressure with their serves. They failed to score first-serve points on 47 of 61 rotations.

"Again, our serving got the better of us," Beckwith said. "It's tough. We're not getting the points when we need them. When we don't, it's hard to get into a rhythm."

Near the end of the match, left-side hitter Lauri Hakala, whose serves can travel up to 70 mph, was launching float serves. In the theme of the Warriors' frustrations, Hakala's float serves were the most effective.

"I know when you miss an inordinate amount of serves, especially at crucial times, that really saps trust," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "We've got to get better at that."

Wilton scrambled for answers. In Game 2, opposite attacker Jim Clar — the lone Warrior on the all-tournament team — was replaced by Steven Grgas.

Later, Jake Schkud replaced Matt Vanzant at the second left-side position, and Kyle Klinger substituted for middle blocker Matt Rawson.

Klinger is not as effective a blocker as Rawson, and a change there is not in the immediate plans. But Wilton said he expects Vanzant and Schkud to platoon at left-side hitter.

"That position is going to be those two guys, I have a feeling, for the rest of the year," Wilton said.

The Warriors had expected to rebound against the Nittany Lions. The game plan began with this strategy: Serve to Matt Anderson.

"(Friday) night he was in the passing rotation, and he got abused a lot," Wilton said. "He was our No. 1 serving target. And, dang it, he's not available."

That's because Penn State coach Mark Pavlik decided to change the offense, a revision that required Anderson to move from the left side to opposite attacker, where he would not have any primary-passing responsibilities.

"We actually changed our offense after (Friday) night because we weren't passing so well," Anderson said.

Aaron Smith moved from opposite to the left side, becoming a primary passer. That opened the way for Anderson and left-side hitter Alex Gutor to take the majority of swings.

Penn State still tried to run a quick offense, which is patterned after the U.S. national team's hurry-up attack, but with higher sets. The Lions' perimeter hitters are trained to use four-step takeoffs on spikes. Previously, Luke Murray would launch the set when the hitter was on his third step. Against UH, Murray's set would be in the air on the second step.

"Setting a little higher made it easier on me," Murray said. "That's a lot easier of a ball to set. It doesn't have to be perfect. It gives the hitter more time to adjust to a non-perfect set."

Gutor, often blasting away from behind the 3-meter line, had a match-high 22 kills. Anderson, on the right side, had 18 kills.

"We're pretty good jumpers," said Anderson, who is 6 feet 9. "We can get up and see the block, and use it as a tool or go around it."

Pavlik said: "It was a good win."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.