After the Hawaii women’s volleyball team dispatched visiting UC San Diego in straight sets on senior night last weekend, setter Kate Lang, adorned neck to forehead with traditional and haku lei, agreed that the Rainbow Wahine are playing some of their best volleyball of the season.

“I think our defense and our scrap really showed up in the last two nights. Hey, I used pidgin — that’s awesome,” Lang, of Keller, Texas, said with a laugh. “We just did not want to be messed with. Do not poke this bear. That’s our whole mindset. And if we can take that into the next two weeks, we’re golden.”

In a test of discipline, UH managed to keep it going at last-place Cal State Fullerton on Friday night.

The Wahine swept the Titans, 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 to prevail for the eighth time in nine games and clinch a bye into the semifinals of the upcoming Big West tournament in Irvine, Calif.

UH (19-8, 13-4 Big West) even managed to get some well-earned rest for hitter Caylen Alexander, who was able to sit out the third set.

Stella Adeyemi led the Wahine with 13 kills on .355 hitting. Middle Jacyn Bamis added 11 kills and Tali Hakas nine with 22 digs. Alexander supplied seven on a modest 18 swings.

Lang directed UH to a .296-hitting night while the Titans (4-24, 0-18) were held to .162.

Libero Tayli Ikenaga dug 18 balls.

Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at UC Irvine (15-13, 9-8) UH is tied atop the standings with Cal Poly and UC Davis at 13-4. The Wahine swept Cal Poly home-and-home and split with Davis and owns the tiebreaker over both. UH will open the six-team event next Friday at the Bren Events Center as either the No. 1 or 2 seed.

UCI won in Honolulu for the first time in program history in the teams’ Big West opener on Sept. 27.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.