Adversity can be a good thing.

It might have been a little more than No. 20 Hawaii wanted Thursday night but it wasn’t more than the Rainbow Wahine could handle when turning back New Mexico 24-26, 25-18, 25-11, 25-17 in the second match of the 27th Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

A Stan Sheriff Center turnstile crowd of 3,840 saw Hawaii (3-1) switch to a younger but taller lineup in Set 2 and watched setter Tayler Higgins set a school record for service aces in a four-set match with eight. Junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao put down a career-high 17 kills, and junior middle Olivia Magill added 11 kills with no errors and was in on seven of the Wahine’s 121⁄2 blocks.

Hawaii will face No. 22 Oregon (4-0) in Friday’s second match. The Ducks got 14 kills from freshman hitter Frankie Shebby and 10 from sophomore hitter Naya Crittenden in turning back St. John’s. The Red Storm (4-1) take on the Lobos (2-2) in Friday’s 5 p.m. opener.

Will Hawaii coach Dave Shoji start two freshmen against Oregon after he brought in hitters Kalei Greeley and Megan Huff when his team dropped Set 1?

"It will be a game-time decision," Shoji said. "It wasn’t my plan to use two freshmen out there tonight but they responded. Kalei came in at the end of Set 1 and we made a little run. She steadies us out. We got back into the game, just not enough. But the momentum had swung. And Huff picked us up as well.

"The other thing was our serving. Last week, we had a lot of errors and maybe were too cautious. I gave them the green light and Higgins lit it up, Tai had a nice little run, too (2 aces)."

Manu-Olevao also got it done on the attack when bettering her career-high by one.

"Tai was elevating tonight, and elevating better as the match went on," said Higgins, who had 46 assists and had Hawaii hitting .221. "And I’m really comfortable with our freshmen out there. It’s impressive for them to come off the bench they way they did and get the job done.

"As for my serving, I felt more comfortable going back there tonight. I put some extra heat and wanted to be aggressive. We needed to get out of our funk (in Set 1)."

New Mexico threw an early scare into Hawaii, jumping out quickly in Set 1 then coming back late. Senior right-side hitter Chantale Riddle had six kills and six blocks, her last stuff on junior hitter Keani Passi that gave UNM set point at 24-23 and capping a 4-0 run.

A kill by Manu-Olevao tied it at 24 but the Lobos used two Wahine errors, a serving one by Gianna Guinasso and a hitting one by Passi, to close it out.

Hawaii somewhat solved Riddle in Set 2 while solving some of its own problems on offense while adding some height with a pair of freshmen. The 6-foot- 2 Greeley and 6-3 Huff replaced juniors Ginger Long (5-11) and Passi (5-10), respectively, and the Wahine used a 4-2 edge in blocks and two of Higgins’ record-setting seven aces to even the match.

Hawaii simply dominated Set 3, leading by as many as 11 (17-6). At 20-11 the Wahine used a 5-0 closing run that included two kills and a block by Magill and Higgins’ seventh ace.

The Lobos kept it close in Set 4. The Wahine broke away from a 13-13 tie on a kills by Magill and Huff and Higgins’ final ace.

Riddle finished with 11 kills and eight block assists for New Mexico. Ashley Kelsey finished with a match-high 18 digs for the Lobos, who hit .098 for the night.

OREGON 3, ST. JOHN’S 1

In a battle of unbeatens, the Ducks prevailed 25-18, 20-25, 25-14, 25-18 in 94 minutes despite their two standout hitters — senior Liz Brenner and Martenne Bettendorf — having very quite nights (combined 11 kills).

"We had some interesting set choices," Oregon coach Jim Moore said. "We knew St. John’s was a really good side-out team. I told our players we had to stay focused."

It was the Red Storm’s inability to side-out late in the late in Set 4 that cost them a shot at an upset. Tied at 16, Oregon went on a 7-0 run to take control.

St. John’s got 12 kills and three aces from sophomore hitter Aleksandr Wachowicz and 11 kills from junior hitter Karin Palgutova. Junior libero Shawna-Lei Santos (Sacred Hearts) finished with a team-high eight digs.

NO. 20 HAWAII DEF. NEW MEXICO 24-26, 25-18, 25-11, 25-17

LOBOS (2-2)

RAINBOW WAHINE (3-1)

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 — New Mexico 1 (Riddle). Hawaii 13 (Higgins 8, Manu-Olevao 2, Greeley 2, Mendoza). Service errors — New Mexico 10 (Warren 2, Johnson 2, Chavez 2, Mayfield 2, Henderson, Kelsey). Hawaii 13 (Higgins 3, Manu-Olevao 3, Greeley 2, Mendoza 2, Anderson, Guinasso, Kahakai). Assists — New Mexico 34 (Johnson 30, Chavez 2, Warren, Kelsey). Hawaii 50 (Higgins 46, Kahakai 2, Adolpho, Mendoza). T — 1:53. Officials — Ernest Ho, Dickson Chun. A — 3,840.