Top-seeded Florida State rallied to defeat fifth-seeded Hawaii 3-2 in today’s winners bracket semifinal of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships at Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Rainbow Wahine (17-9) took a a 2-0 lead with wins at Flights 3 and 5 but the Seminoles (31-1) rallied to tie with victories at Flights 2 and 4. The deciding point came at Flight 1 where FSU’s Jace Pardon-Julie Brown came from behind to defeat UH’s Katie Spieler-Emily Maglio, 14-21, 21-17, 16-14.

Hawaii’s wins came from Ginger Long-Mikayla Tucker at No. 3 23-21, 21-19, and Ari Homayun-Hannah Rooks at No. 5. 22-20, 21-19. UH’s other losses came at No. 2 (Nikki Taylor-Ka’iwi Schucht, 21-15, 21-16) and at No. 4 (Lara Schreiber-Hannah Zalopany, 21-16, 21-12).

Florida State’s lone loss of the year came to the SandBows at the Stetson Invitational in March, a 4-1 UH victory.

Hawaii will face Arizona in a loser-out match Saturday.

Earlier today, Hawaii defeated fourth-seeded UCLA 3-0. The SandBows won at flights 2, 3 and 5 to clinch the dual and beat the Bruins (18-7) for the first time in three meetings this season.

Winning their flights were Taylor-Schucht, at No. 2, 21-11, 22-20; Long-Tucker at No. 3, 22-20, 21-14, and Homayun-Rooks at No. 5, 21-18, 21-18.

The other two flights were not finished since Hawaii already had clinched the best-of-five dual. Both of the earlier losses this season to the UCLA had been 3-2.

In other matches today, Florida State defeated Stetson 3-0, USC beat Georgia State 3-0 and Pepperdine topped Arizona 3-1.

In today’s elimination matches, Arizona ousted Georgia State 3-2 and UCLA sent Stetson home 3-2.