HONOLULU — Hawaii coach Charlie Wade had a feeling that UC San Diego would scrap its way to a tougher effort in the teams’ rematch on Saturday night.

He was right. It took an extra set, but the No. 4 Rainbow Warriors put away the No. 11 Tritons in four, 27-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-18, in front of 6,359 (7,481 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH (21-2, 4-0 Big West) leaves the weekend with a one-game edge on top-ranked Long Beach State (22-2, 3-1) for the conference lead. The Beach responded from Friday’s stunning sweep loss to UC Irvine at home and returned the favor on the Anteaters in Irvine on Saturday.

The UH-UCSD contest got chippy by the finish of the two-match series, with plenty of chatter through the net. Players on both sides were issued verbal warnings from the officials in the final few points Saturday.

Afterward, hitter Adrien Roure and setter Tread Rosenthal told Spectrum Sports’ corner crew and ESPN Honolulu radio the same thing — the smack talk fired up the ‘Bows. UCSD setter Bryce Dvorak's words and gestures appeared to fire up both teams midway through Set 4.

"The setter started chirping — he's pretty much chirping all the time," Wade told Spectrum Sports' Scott Robbs of what happened. "I think we get an assist (from) him getting the crowd back into it, and getting our guys back into it. We came out in that third set kind of flat and he started kind of chirping and got under people's skin a little bit. You could tell the crowd recognized it and got into it."

The teams, who could meet again in the Big West championships in Honolulu, shook hands afterward.

Louis Sakanoko put down a season-high-tying 15 kills on .414 hitting and his French countryman Roure added 14 on .400 efficiency, including an emphatic match-winner to shoulder the load at the pins.

"Honestly, they kind of started trash talking and that's the thing that got us going back in more," Roure told the Spectrum corner crew. "They just, like, awake us. That's their mistake."

The middles made a heavy impact as Kurt Nusterer supplied eight kills on 11 error-free swings while Ofeck Hazan added seven on 10 swings. Rosenthal had 41 assists, seven digs and four kills.

Wade went to his son, freshman Kainoa Wade, in relief of starting opposite Kristian Titriyski late in Set 2 and through most of Set 3. Wade struggled to minus-.091 hitting, but he entered for a service turn late in the match and helped his team to three straight points, including an ace.

Titriyski returned late in the third and finished with six kills on .143 hitting, his fewest terminated balls in a match in which he played three or more sets.

The Rainbows turned back the Tritons late in the first two sets, but UCSD, led by the Pepperdine transfer Dvorak, came out of the intermission period with greater focus and jumped out 9-3 in Set 3. The Tritons hit .379 in the set to win it handily, but UH responded with force, hitting .640 in the fourth.

"I hope it was entertaining," Wade said. "Any league win at this point is really valuable. Thrilled to get one."

UCSD (16-6, 2-2) won the service battle handily with eight aces to UH’s three. UH committed eight of its 18 service errors in the first set.

Freshman middle Justin Todd sat out the match after appearing to turn an ankle coming down on a teammate’s foot early in Friday’s sweep victory. Hazan took his place in the rotation.

Hazan had a behind-the-head tapped kill in the second set, mirroring Sakanoko’s no-look feat from Friday night.

"We know he's a good player. JT (Todd) is just such an up-and-coming talent," Wade said. "Nice to have a guy like Ofeck who's been a starter, who's played in high-level matches and can come in and help."

Josh Schellinger led UCSD with a match-high 18 kills on .392 hitting.

UH is to head out for two matches at last-place Cal State Northridge (15-7, 0-4) on Friday and Saturday.

Note: This story has been updated with quotes and details.

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