LAS VEGAS » Third-ranked Hawaii stared down a repeat of last year’s volleyball defeat and Fresno State on Tuesday, and somehow found the will to win.

The Rainbow Wahine rallied to capture their Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinal, 23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-11,15-10. The 2-hour, 22-minute match was watched by 2,026, nearly all pulling for UH at the Orleans Arena.

Hawaii has a chance tonight to leave the WAC with its 13th championship in 16 years. Third-seeded New Mexico State stands in its way, after sweeping Idaho 25-22, 25-22, 25-16.

The Wahine (27-1) and Aggies will play for the title for the fifth time in six years, with UH winning the previous four. The Wahine take a 22-match winning streak into the final, dating back to Sept. 4.

A year ago, Utah State ended Hawaii’s streak of 12 straight WAC championships with a sweep in the tournament final that was as shocking as it was decisive.

Fifth-seeded Fresno, now 0-52 against UH, was on the verge of something even more shocking after the first hour Tuesday.

"It clicked finally in the third set," said UH All-American Kanani Danielson, whose 16th double-double (24 kills, 12 digs) of the season set the standard again. "We knew our backs were against the wall. We knew Fresno came to play. We had a long meeting before we came out (for the third set) … ‘OK, what do we need to work on, why are we here?’ Everybody just came in full speed. I was very proud of everybody.

"That was the first time in a long, long time that I’ve seen everybody be together as one on the court. We are totally together off the court, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen everybody click, have good chemistry on the court. We took care of business in the third set, showed a lot in the fourth and in the fifth … it was our time. We had the momentum and it just kept going Hawaii’s way."

Until then, it had been all Bulldogs (14-15). FSU sophomore Korrin Wild (18 kills, 12 digs), who started the season as a libero, and setter Barbara Alcantara made UH look silly, as did every Bulldog server.

Fresno State scored eight of the first 11 points by finding freshman Jane Croson with nearly every serve. The Wahine rallied to within one at 14-15, then started shanking serves again.

UH denied four set points to make it look close and took an early lead in the second set. FSU turned ferocious again, going on an 18-7 tear by picking apart the UH passing and by running every offensive option effectively behind Alcantara.

Again, UH only got tough down set point. It denied three before middle Maci Murdock buried her ninth kill.

She would hit zero the rest of the night (five kills, five errors), as would Wild (eight kills, eight errors). Only senior Brianna Clarke (18 kills, .536) could keep up the pace when the teams’ passing fortunes switched.

"We are fortunate to move on," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I thought Fresno played really well, like they did last night. They kind of freed it up and went for it."

Shoji said he made "a couple of tactical errors."

Chanteal Satele had been sick all day, but said she could start and Shoji put her in. She struggled.

Junior Emily Maeda had been playing well in practice, but he still went with freshman Lizzie Blake at libero. "Turns out Emily came in and did a good job," Shoji said. "My error for not starting Emily Maeda."

The third UH issue was its passing, which nearly cost it any shot of hosting an NCAA subregional next week.

Shoji used 14 players and slowly found a combination that would work. Maeda steadied the passing and came up with 13 digs. Emily Hartong rallied from an awful start, going 7-for-11 the last three sets.

Brittany Hewitt hit .579 with 11 kills, and freshman Kalei Adolpho dropped in on half of Hawaii’s 12 blocks. Croson kept hanging on, finally finding her passing and finishing with 13 kills and 14 digs.

FSU was within five points of the upset in Set 3, when it cut its deficit to 22-20. Hawaii scored the final three, with Croson getting set point after a remarkable dig by Maeda and a cross-court set from Danielson.

Hawaii blew ahead 12-2 in the fourth, forcing FSU coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell to burn both timeouts.

The Wahine scored six of the first seven in the final set. The Bulldogs got within one — six times — but Hawaii scored the final four. Fittingly, setter Mita Uiato — who bore the brunt of the bad passing — was serving at the time.

"I was really proud of my team tonight," Netherby-Sewell said. "We’ve come a long way, from a very streaky young team without a lot of confidence to a really impressive and fun team to watch. I was really proud of the effort. Our serve and pass game was so tight until Hawaii got ticked off and then they started to come after us a lot harder."

When it wasn’t looking good for Hawaii — "toward the bitter end of the second set," Danielson said — it was hard not to think of last year’s loss to USU. Shoji admitted to "crunching numbers" trying to figure how far his team’s No. 7 RPI would fall.

"Trust me, that was going through my head," he said, "but the girls pulled it out.