A quiet moment away from the court set the tone for Hawaii’s raucous finish.

As Cal Poly reveled in an opening-set rout in Friday’s Big West volleyball match, the Rainbow Wahine huddled in the tunnel behind the bench for the final few moments of the break.

“I think taking a step out of the gym really helps us reset,” UH setter Kate Lang said. “Because after the first set we really needed to just take a breather and we needed it to just be the team for a second and talk among ourselves and figure out what was internally going on, because we knew the first set wasn’t us.”

When the Wahine re-emerged, they treated the White Out-night crowd to wipeouts in the next two sets, highlighted by a 10-point service run by Kendra Ham in the second and Lang’s 13-point turn in the third.

Cal Poly appeared poised to force a fifth set when the Mustangs raced out to 10-2 and 16-8 leads thanks in part to four aces.

But UH caught and passed Cal Poly with another extended run with Lang on the line and closed out a 16-25, 25-12, 25-16, 25-23 victory before a now roaring season-high crowd of 6,036 in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“I told them before the game, ‘If you don’t see me panicking, don’t panic,’” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “I believe in these girls.

“We just had to take care of our responsibilities and blocking assignments, serve tougher and pass balls.”

The Wahine (19-6, 16-1 Big West) have won nine straight since a four-set loss at Cal Poly on Oct. 15 and opened up a two-game lead over second-place UC Santa Barbara — which lost at UC Davis in five sets on Thursday — in the conference race with three matches left to play.

UH middle blocker Amber Igiede shook off a shaky start to put away a match-high 17 kills and outside hitter Caylen Alexander finished with 16 kills on .444 hitting in one of her most complete matches in her freshman year.

She also added three blocks and eight digs, several helping to extend Lang’s second-set run, and posted her final three kills in UH’s 7-0 run late in the fourth.

“She’s definitely growing each game,” Ah Mow said.

UH opposite Braelyn Akana put away her 10th kill on match point and UH earned a split of the season series with Cal Poly.

Igiede and fellow middle blocker Tiffany Westerberg were each in on five of UH’s 10 blocks, while Cal Poly finished with six.

Igiede had three kills and two errors in 10 attempts in the first set, then helped trigger the comeback with six kills on seven swings in the second.

“I literally didn’t feel like myself, I don’t know why,” Igiede said of the slow start. “I think it’s because we know we didn’t play as well when we lost to them last time, so we might have been trying to do too much. So (Ah Mow) just gave us a little rattle and (said) ‘Come on, let’s get your head on straight.’ “

Outside hitter Riley Wagoner had a quiet night offensively with five kills, but contributed 10 digs to UH’s defensive effort.

Akana was credited with two block assists in the match, but her work with Westerberg at the net in a key fourth-set sequence proved pivotal although it didn’t register in the box score.

The duo sent back three attacks from Big West kills leader Tommi Stockham to extend a rally that ended with the Mustangs hitting long to extend Lang’s service turn and cut Cal Poly’s lead to 20-19.

After a Cal Poly timeout, Akana put down an overpass to tie the set and Alexander put away back-to-back kills to give UH a 22-20 lead. The Wahine traded sideouts from there and Akana’s 10th kill ended the night.

Stockham led Cal Poly (16-12, 13-5) with 11 kills and the Mustangs were eliminated from conference title contention.

Opposite Maia Dvoracek, who had 21 kills in the first meeting with UH, finished with nine kills on .034 hitting and had four of the Mustangs’ eight aces.

UH finished with three aces, yet still defined the match from the service line. Ham, who began her career at Cal Poly, had an ace in her tone-setting run in the second set. Lang’s turn in the third set turned a 5-4 deficit into an 18-5 UH lead.

“It was really cool. I was, ‘Oh shoot, wow I’m going back here again,’” Lang said. “But it was a good feeling because i knew even if the ball did get a perfect pass, my front row was always live and totally ahead of the game. It was nice being able to know it didn’t have to be an ace.”

The Rainbow Wahine return to the practice gym today and close the home schedule Sunday against CSU Bakersfield. UH setter Mylana Byrd will be honored following the senior day match.