For the Hawai'i volleyball team, last night's match did not slip away.

It bled.

"It's ridiculous," libero Ric Cervantes said of the Warriors' 27-30, 32-30, 41-39, 30-26 loss to UC Santa Barbara in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors entered against a lower-ranked opponent for the first time this season.

They exited with their fifth consecutive loss, an outcome in which the Warriors and Gauchos switched places in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.

The Warriors, at 2-9, fell to 11th place in the 12-team league. They are 3-11 overall. The Gauchos are 3-10 and 5-11.

"It's hugely disappointing," UH head coach Mike Wilton said. "I challenged them."

This match, Wilton said, "is our season."

Indeed, the Warriors projected they need to win 10 of their 22 league matches to earn a berth in the eight-team MPSF playoffs. After last night, they need to win eight of 11 remaining MPSF matches.

"All of that is true," Wilton said. "That can't be your focus. Your focus has to be the moment."

The Warriors were admittedly tentative, especially on their serves. They missed 22 serves, including at 38-37 in the pivotal third set.

Left-side hitter Josh Walker blasted a career-high 30 kills, including 20 in the final two sets. But in the fourth set, all three of his serves did not clear the net.

"It's hard when people miss serves," Walker said. "There's so much pressure that way to keep the ball in. I was a little deflated at the end. I was trying to get the ball high, but I wasn't making contact. I wasn't focusing on the serves back there."

The lack of focus — and, worse, intensity — became a collective problem.

"I thought we played to not lose instead of playing to win," Wilton said. "We were tight and timid. There was really good playing, but when you miss 22 serves, at huge times, it erodes confidence."

On the court after the match, the Warriors huddled around Wilton, who spoke for several minutes. After that, Cervantes stormed away, deciding to pass on receiving the usual lei from the fans.

"It's all mental ...," Cervantes said of the loss. "We go back to serve, we have no intensity. Nothing. It's just ... I'm sick of it. We're doing the same things. It's all mental lapse. I'm calling everybody out on my team, including myself."

The Warriors were not at full strength. Left-side hitter Steven Hunt will miss at least another two weeks because of a fracture in his right (hitting) hand.

Gus Tuaniga, the best passer among the outside hitters, did not start after missing significant practice time because of a sprained left elbow. Tuaniga started the fourth set, but the Warriors did not score on any of his serves.

To be sure, the Warriors had their moments. They hit .381 for the match. Middle blocker Jarrod Lofy buried 12 kills without an error. Steven Grgas, a converted middle who started his first match at opposite attacker, buried 15 kills. And Walker found his accuracy, nailing several key kills in the third set. Five times Walker fought off the Gauchos' set point, hitting line, angle and dinks.

But the Gauchos made the big plays when it mattered. With the Gauchos down 30-29 in the second set, outside hitter Jake Rosener tied it with a crossing shot that fell in front of the end line. Then Jeff Menzel slammed two kills to win the set.

In the third set, down 39-38, the Gauchos tied it on Rosener's angle shot over the UH block. UH's Matt "Dragon" Rawson then was called for a double-hit, and Rosener and middle Scott Slaughter blocked Grgas at set point. Slaughter, who relied heavily on a step-out move, had 19 kills against four errors.

The Gauchos had struggled in closing out recent matches.

"When you get in that situation enough, you keep learning from it," UCSB coach Rick McLaughlin said. "Sooner or later it all pays off. I think it helped being in those situations."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.