When Hawaii's Big West semifinal against UC Davis went the distance, Caylen Alexander knew her team was in a good place.

"As soon as we were walking out for the fifth set, we were like, ‘cmon, this is where we thrive.’ We get excited for fifth-setters now," the Big West Player of the Year said with a laugh.

Alexander put down kills on the last two points of the match as the Rainbow Wahine outlasted the Aggies, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-13, at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., to advance to Saturday’s championship match against Cal Poly at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.

UH's drive for a 31^st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance is still alive; Saturday's winner receives the Big West’s automatic berth to the NCAAs, and the Wahine, who have a top-40 RPI, might even have a shot as an at-large team if they fall short. UH won the inaugural edition of the modern BWC tournament last year to run its NCAA streak to 30, not including the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UH (20-9), nicknamed the "Five Setta Sistahs," improved to 7-4 in five-set matches on the season.

Alexander, the nation’s leader in total kills, had 22 kills against 12 errors on 61 swings to get second-seeded UH over the finish line. Middle Jacyn Bamis added 15 kills against just two errors and four block assists.

Alexander's final crosscourt kill was challenged by UC Davis coach Dan Conners as an out ball, unsuccessfully.

Conners felt good about his team's strategy of loading up on Alexander, who hit .164.

"When it comes down to two points, it’s just anything," Conners said. "One point, one ball, if that last ball’s 2 inches wider, sometimes it bounces your way and sometimes it doesn’t. They had a few more points bounce their way."

Stella Adeyemi and Tali Hakas added 11 kills apiece. Adeyemi supplied four in the fifth set.

Third-seeded UC Davis (19-10) twice rallied from a set down to tie the match. The Aggies led 12-11 in the fifth before Bamis put down consecutive kills to give UH a one-point lead.

"Our whole entire season has been like, flush it real quick," Bamis said. "You don’t have to reminisce on the last ball. … Just keep playing."

UCD hitter Olivia Utterback tied it for the last time at 13-all before Alexander ended things from the left pin.

UCD doubled up UH in blocks, 10-5, and had an 8-3 advantage in service aces, but UH was plus-16 in digs. Libero Tayli Ikenaga had 19 digs, Alexander and setter Kate Lang had 17 each and Hakas 15. Defensive specialist Victoria Leyva contributed 10.

"For all of us, just looking at Tayli and Kate, none of us wanted it to be their last game," Alexander said of the team's two seniors.

The teams were nearly even in attack percentage, .200 for UH to .198 for UCD.

"It was definitely a dogfight on both sides," UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. "Both teams were in it and playing hard, especially that fifth set just going back and forth. If you look at the stats, you can’t even tell who won."

Utterback led UCD with 18 kills on 52 swings while Jade Light added 13 kills. Aggies sophomore hitter Reese Diersbock, a Le Jardin graduate from Kailua, had 12 kills on 38 swings.

In the first semifinal of the day, top-seeded Cal Poly (22-8) swept fourth-seeded Long Beach State (19-11).

Note: This story was updated with details and quotes.

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