Another deep hole. This time, not enough shovels.

Unlike a week earlier at UC Irvine, Hawaii was unable to pull out an improbable five-set comeback after going down 0-2 Friday night to No. 23 Long Beach State at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The 49ers, led by Alex Reid’s 16 kills, held off the Rainbow Wahine 27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 17-25, 15-10 in a Big West volleyball match critical to both teams. Bre Mackie added 15 kills and Chisom Okpala 14 for the 49ers (20-5, 10-0 Big West), who won for the first time in five matches in the Stan Sheriff Center.

It was the first win in Honolulu for The Beach since 1993, when the teams met in Klum Gym.

A crowd of 5,819 watched Hawaii (16-6, 8-3) get 17 kills from sophomore hitter Nikki Taylor and 12 each from junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao and freshman hitter Kalei Greeley over the 2 hours and 33 minutes.

Hawaii makes a quick turnaround, hosting Cal State Northridge (14-7, 5-4) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Matadors swept the Wahine back on Oct. 10.

"I think we can still qualify for the (NCAA) tournament, but we need to win (Saturday)," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Our season is on the line.

"Tonight was disappointing. We made errors at the ends of the games we lost. We gave away the first game."

The rally towels came out in Set 1, as Hawaii had two set points to take a 1-0 lead on The Beach. The 49ers held, tying it for what would be the 10th and last time at 25 and the visitors finished out a 5-1 run on hitting error by Taylor.

The 49ers pulled away in a tight Set 2, tying at 16 and using a 3-0 spurt again led by Okpala to take control at 19-16. Long Beach State’s defense was key, out-digging UH 25-14, and helping the 49ers earn set point at 24-19.

Hawaii’s comeback might have started then, closing to 24-22, the last point on a block of Reid. Reid answered with her 13th kill to give the 49ers a 2-0 lead.

The Wahine came out of the intermission with resolve and momentum. Senior Sarah Mendoza replaced freshman Savanah Kahakai at libero. The minor tweak worked. Hawaii’s passing settled down and the Wahine simply controlled the next two sets with a balanced attack led by Taylor, Manu-Olevao and Greeley.

Just as they had in the Walter Pyramid on Oct. 11, the 49ers took an early lead in Set 5 at 4-1. The Wahine tied it at 4-4, but The Beach answered with two blocks, a kill by Okpala and a hitting error by Greeley to take an 8-4 lead at the changeover.

Hawaii closed to within 9-8 on a Long Beach service error but could never get over the hump. Reed’s 16th kill gave the 49ers set point and it ended when Manu-Olevao hit long.

"I thought the play by both teams was really high at times," 49ers coach Brian Gimmillaro said. "We needed this to keep our playoff hopes alive."

Hawaii, the top blocking team in the conference, finished with a 16.5-10 edge. Taylor was in on eight blocks and junior middle Olivia Magill contributed on seven to go with her seven kills. The Wahine had nine aces, four by Mendoza, who had a rare kill from the back row that might have been the highlight of Set 2 for UH.

"We knew we were capable of beating them; we just put ourselves in a bad situation," Hawaii sophomore setter Tayler Higgins said. "We needed a strong start in Set 5 and didn’t get it. We had our chances. We let it get away."

Higgins finished with a team-high 14 digs to go with 44 assists. She also had five kills with no errors in 10 attempts.

"When it goes to five, it’s anybody’s match," Mendoza added. "We had a lot of fire in the third and the fourth. We made little mistakes and gave it away."

Long Beach State had an 82-70 margin in digs, led by libero Tyler Jackson’s 19. Reid completed a double-double with 14 digs.

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — Long Beach State 4 (Brinke 4). Hawaii 9 (Mendoza 4, Ponce 2, Higgins, Greeley, Kahakai). Service errors — Long Beach State 7 (Hudson 2, Jackson 2, Brinke, Reid, Cabrajac). Hawaii 7 (Higgins 2, Taylor 2, Manu-Olevao, Mendoza, Ponce). Assists — Long Beach State 61 (Hudson 53, Cabrajac 4, Mackie, Brinke, Okpala, Reid). Hawaii 59 (Higgins 44, Kahakai 4, Manu-Olevao 3, Greeley 2, Koelsch 2, Taylor, Adolpho, Mendoza, Ponce). T — 2:33. A — 5,819. Referees — Patsy Malta, Wayne Lee.

Friday
Long Beach State def. Hawaii, 27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 17-25, 15-10
UC Irvine def. Cal Poly, 26-24, 21-25, 25-20, 25-15
UC Santa Barbara def. CSU Fullerton, 25-20, 22-25, 25-15, 25-15

Saturday
CSU Northridge at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
CSU Fullerton at Cal Poly
UC Davis at UC Riverside
UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara