The Rainbows' sweep of Southern California and the Cougars' two wins over Pepperdine set off a chain reaction that scrambled a playoff picture that didn't clear up until last night.
Southern Cal, needing to win just one of its last three matches to advance to postseason play, lost last night to Long Beach State and then lost the tiebreaker for the final at-large berth to Pacific.
Pepperdine fell into the fourth-place, at-large spot when UC Santa Barbara beat Cal State Northridge last night.
So, on Saturday, Hawaii will play at BYU, Pacific is at UCLA, Pepperdine is at Staford and UC Santa Barbara plays at Long Beach State.
"It's sheer luck all three things we needed to have happen to keep us home turned out our way," BYU coach Carl McGown said in a telephone call from Provo yesterday. "We needed to beat Pepperdine twice and UCLA needed to beat UC Santa Barbara (Saturday). To have all things happen, especially to have all three matches decided in five games is something.
"Otherwise, we'd be off to Stanford. I'm definitely glad we're home and not going to Hawaii, although Mike (Hawaii coach Wilton) did try to make a deal."
Wilton, a longtime friend of McGown's, offered the Special Events Arena as the site for Saturday's match.
"Mike phoned and said, 'Let's make a deal,' " McGown said. "'We can fill our place and make a lot money.' I told him if he gave us five points a game, we'd come. He wouldn't go for that."
When Hawaii played in Provo earlier this year, the 15-8, 15-4, 15-7 defeat to the Cougars lasted 88 minutes and was the Rainbows' lowest point total in four seasons.
Hawaii's biggest concern this week is the health of outside hitter Jason Ring, who tore two ligaments in his right ankle early in Saturday's match with the Trojans. Ring spent six hours in rehab yesterday and he expects to be ready for the Cougars.
"My ankle's feeling really good and I'm walking on it," Ring said. "There's still a lot of bruising but I'm making a miraculous recovery. I feel like I can practice on it but the coaches don't want me pushing. Thursday, I'll practice and I feel confident I'll be at least 85 percent by Friday."
Aaron Wilton is also on his way back after sitting out all of Friday's match and most of Saturday's. The senior hitter was sidelined with bronchitis and a high fever.