It was a major adjustment.

In lineup, attitude and focus.

No. 11 Hawaii channeled its frustration from losing its third five-setter of the season on Friday to No. 15 UC San Diego to turn back the Tritons last night 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-20.

Sophomore opposite Jonas Umlauft put down a match-high 24 kills and senior hitter Joshua Walker added 13 for the Warriors (2-5 2-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) at the RIMAC Arena.

Umlauft also had two of Hawaii’s three aces and he, Walker and senior middle Brennon Dyer were each in on three of the Warriors’ nine blocks.

Hawaii went with freshman Scott Hartley, making his first start (and playing in just his second match), on the outside. Hartley replaced junior hitter Steven Hunt, who was benched after an unacceptable gesture to someone in the crowd following Friday’s match.

"I didn’t see it, but I got wind of it," Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. "He (Hunt) owned up to it and I told him he wasn’t going to play. It’s about respecting the uniform, representing the state of Hawaii and showing aloha.

"I thought Hartley came in and did well. (Friday) was so close and we know we could have done better. It was a match we felt we should have won, but in this league there is such a small margin of error that we may have won the statistical battle (Friday), we didn’t win the match."

Hawaii again won the battle of the scoresheet, hitting .424 to UCSD’s .348, and in serving (three aces and 11 errors to UCSD’s one ace and 17 errors). The Warriors outblocked the Tritons 9-6 and outdug them 30-27.

"We watched a lot of film (yesterday) and saw that we could have done better in a number of areas," Wade said. "It’s a lot different when you can see yourselves against a team than seeing them play someone else.

"We also talked to Jonas (Umlauft) about being more aggressive with his serves. We passed better and we got our middles involved more, which is something we tried to do (Friday). I felt we were in control down the stretch most of the night."

The one set that got away was the third, where the Tritons broke out from a 14-14 tie for three consecutive points and were never headed. Ahead 20-18, UCSD used another 3-0 run in pulling away for good.

Carl Eberts led the Tritons with 14 kills and Calvin Ross had another stellar night with 12 kills and no errors on 17 swings.

The Warriors return home to host UC Santa Barbara (5-4, 3-3) in 7 p.m. matches Thursday and Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Wade said he felt good about his team’s performance heading into this coming week. The Warriors are by no means out of the conference race, given some of the recent results, including Stanford being swept at Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge losing 3-0 at home to Pacific yesterday.

"Just another wacky night in the MPSF," he said.