For the Hawai'i volleyball team, the margin of error has been downgraded to "slim and none."

The Warriors' drive for a playoff berth idled in a 30-17, 30-25, 30-26 road loss to top-ranked UC Irvine last night.

The Warriors, who fell to 6-14 and 3-12 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, believed they needed to win seven of their final eight regular-season matches to qualify for the eight-team league playoffs.

But last night, UH coach Mike Wilton acknowledged, "we could be playing for character development."

The Warriors' undoing could be traced to ineffective passing. In the first set, Wilton said, "we got served off the court."

Left-side hitters Jim Clar and Josh Walker had the most difficulty. Clar was aced on three of five serves; Walker was aced twice. They were both lifted midway in the first set.

Their replacements, Gus Tuaniga and Sean Carney, played the rest of the way.

"We made some changes and passed better," Wilton said.

But then in the second set, it seemed the Anteaters scored in flurries when Jon Steller was behind the service line.

"It seemed like he served 90 times,"Wilton said. "It seemed that was the difference in the second set."

UH's poor passing in the third set helped complete the sweep.

The Anteaters finished with nine aces.

Taylor Wilson put down a match-high 15 kills for the Anteaters.

Carney, who had missed two practices this week because of flu-like symptoms, hammered 11 kills for the Warriors.

"If we can get Sean to hit .250, we'll be OK there," Wilton said. "Sean does a lot of nice things for us."

Carney hit .231 last night.

"He's almost there," Wilton said. "Now we need more guys to chime in."

Wilton said Carney and Tuaniga will start on the left side in tonight's rematch.

The opposite attacker's position is unsettled after Brennon Dyer hit negative-.062 (five kills, six errors).

Wilton said there is a possibility Joe Strotman (two kills in three swings) will open at opposite.

Wilton also said Matt "Dragon" Rawson will likely replace Jarrod Lofy at one of the middle positions. Rawson did not play in last week's matches because of a sub-luxed left shoulder, and he missed two practices this week because of a strained groin.

The Warriors will have a serve-and-pass session this morning.

"I know the players will keep trying and I'll keep trying," Wilton said. "We'll go back to battle, and we'll see if we can get some serves in. We're going to do our best."