With the season on the brink, the Hawaii volleyball team went with an all-in attitude.

And now the Warriors are all in the playoffs following an improbable run culminating in Saturday’s 25-27, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11 victory over UC San Diego in RIMAC Arena.

"There’s no question, this is the most gratifying and most fun (victory)," said Charlie Wade, who completed his fourth regular season as the Warriors’ head coach.

Brook Sedore led the way with 31 kills, the most by a Warrior since sets were reduced to 25 points in 2011.

"Brook was unbelievable," Wade said. "He was an absolute beast."

The Warriors also managed to finish a hard-to-believe script. After losing twice to UC Santa Barbara two weeks ago, the Warriors faced slim-to-yeah-right chances of qualifying for the eight-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs. The Warriors needed to win their final two matches against UC San Diego and had to hope Cal State Northridge went winless in its final four matches.

"I knew (the Matadors) had a tough schedule," Wade said. ‘I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about what they were doing. I kept trying to get our team into position to win two matches."

Deepening the degree of difficulty, the Warriors would be without their two starting outside hitters. Siki Zarkovic suffered a severely sprained ankle. JP Marks was left behind in Honolulu because of an incident this week that threatened his eligibility.

The Matadors lost those four matches, including a three-set defeat to Long Beach State on Saturday night. The Warriors beat the Tritons on Friday and then rallied to win Saturday’s match.

The Warriors finished the regular season with a 10-14 MPSF record. The Matadors, who held the tie-breaker over the Warriors, finished 9-15.

UH actually placed ninth, but California Baptist, which finished seventh, is ineligible for the postseason.

There were deuce outcomes for the first two sets. The Tritons dominated the third set.

During the break before the fourth set, Wade recalled thinking: "If we’re going down, we’re going to go down trying different things."

Wade moved Sedore, who was the only player with double-digit kills at that point, from opposite to the left side. Taylor Averill moved from the middle to opposite, where he had not played since last season.

"Charlie said, ‘You’re going to play the left side,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, thank you.’ I’m a left-side hitter at heart. I was only playing right side because that’s what the team needed. I’d rather play left side."

The moves boosted the UH block while allowing Sedore to also hit bic sets from the middle of the back row. The tradeoff was Sedore was used more as a passer. He received 14 serves without an error as part of his monster night.

"During the whole match, I wasn’t really celebrating like I usually do," Sedore said. "I was really calm. I think this was the first time I was really in the zone."

The Tritons closed to 23-21 in the fourth set. But Sedore blasted a kill from the left side, then Averill and middle Davis Holt teamed on a block at set point.

"We said before the fifth set, ‘Lucky 13,’ " Wade recalled, a reference to the Warriors’ 13th fifth-set match of the season. "We’ve been here. We know what this is like. We’ve got this."

The Tritons took a 6-4 lead, then gave it back with three consecutive errors. Sedore’s kill gave the Warriors an 8-6 lead at the change-of-sides period, then UH middle Nick West made a solo block.

West, who entered when Averill moved to opposite, made several key defensive plays.

"Did you see Nick laying out and making digs?" Wade said. "He even played middle-back defense."

Later, Sedore’s kill made it 14-11. Then Jace Olsen, who struggled with his accuracy, hit a line shot from the left pin to send the Warriors to the playoffs.

The Northridge match ended about an hour earlier.

"Nobody told me (that score) and I didn’t ask anybody," Wade said. "I think Anton (Willert, the video coordinator) might have been checking, but I didn’t ask him. I had no idea until after the last ball fell, and Jeff (Hall, the associate coach) turned to me and said, ‘Northridge lost.’ We had a lot of happy guys at that time."

The Warriors fielded the most inexperienced starting lineup in the nation’s best volleyball conference.

"I’m super proud of how the guys battled and how much they progressed," Wade said. "To lose both starting pins and get two wins when it absolutely counted, and to be down in the match, I’m really stoked for the guys."

Wade added: "They absolutely balled out and fought and scratched. There were some setbacks recently and some turmoil and drama and whatever you want to call it. But this group of guys we put together, they get validation for all of the hard work they put in. We’re a work in progress. We have more things to do in terms of player development and culture. But this was a fun night."