The Hawaii volleyball team faces a stay-out-of-the-cellar situation in road matches against UC Santa Barbara today and Saturday.

Both teams are out of the running for a berth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s eight-team postseason tournament.

At 7-18 overall and 4-16 in the MPSF, the 11th-place Warriors need to sweep their final series of the regular season to avoid finishing last in the 12-team league. The Gauchos, who are 3-15 in the MPSF, have two more matches next week.

UH head coach Charlie Wade is seeking a strong finish.

"There’s a whole thing about wanting to win every match you play," Wade said. "Everybody has something to work on, even guys who are exhausting their eligibility. If they look at it like they want to have a (post-college) career in volleyball, there’s still stuff they can work on. We’ll be prepared and focused and hopefully we can figure out a way to win."

This has been a Whac-A-Mole season in which Wade hammers one problem only to have others emerge. Harrison Carroll appears to be the immediate answer to the puzzle that was the opposite position. Carroll is an effective back-row hitter who complements left-side attacker Steven Hunt.

Now the second left-side position has struggled. J.P. Marks, who has started most of the matches, is rotating with Brook Sedore and Scott Hartley.

A bigger concern is the Warriors’ offense in trouble-ball situations.

"We’ve been working for months and months on how to score out of system," Wade said. "If you watched Saturday night (against Long Beach State), that was clearly obvious. We were playing good. Sam (Biscaro, UH’s setter) was playing good. We were running the offense. We were running the middle. Boom. Boom. Boom. In system, we were fine. When the ball is out of system, we struggled."

Wade said he won’t hesitate to make lineup switches.

"It will be a lineup that gives us the best chance to win," Wade said. "We’re not going to do anything crazy, unless Steve Hunt doesn’t get off the bus."

The Warriors will be without middle blocker Shane Welch, who suffered a sprained ankle last week.