TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Penn State players jogged back to the bench down one set, their record winning streak in doubt, their run at an unprecedented third straight NCAA volleyball title in question.
They huddled amid a silenced arena.
"We just kind of talked about having each other's backs," middle blocker Arielle Wilson said, "and about playing to our potential."
They quickly showed it.
Penn State moved one win away from setting another record, earning the chance for a third straight national championship by beating Hawaii 23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-18 Thursday night.
The Nittany Lions (37-0) overcome a sluggish start and dropped only their sixth set of the season before extending their record winning streak to 101 matches. It was also coach Russ Rose's 1,000th victory.
"I thought we were really tight in the first game, made a lot of errors that were uncharacteristic," Rose said. "We weren't serving well early. I thought at the end we kind of wore them down a little bit."
Penn State will face Texas on Saturday night. The Longhorns swept Minnesota 25-19, 25-20, 25-15 in the other semifinal.
Hawaii was hardly intimidated by one of the best runs in college sports history. The Rainbow Wahine (32-3) built a big cushion in the first set and never wavered, leaving an arena packed with Penn State fans stunned.
"We all knew Penn State won every match of their season and we knew they were going to come back with fire than in the first match," Hawaii outside hitter Kanani Danielson. "It was our job to step up to the plate and give it everything we had, but they really had fresh legs the whole game."
The Nittany Lions didn't lose their confident and cocky attitude, with bench players routinely dancing in circles and throwing their hands in the air after every spike. They used big serves to stay on the offensive and won the blocking battle 15-0 to swiftly sent Hawaii 5,000 miles home with its 28-game winning streak snapped.
"It was a very tough match against a great opponent that we knew was going to compete very hard," Rose said. "I thought we were really tight in the first game, made a lot of errors that were uncharacteristic."
Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said his team just had no answer for the Nittany Lions' size up front.
"What this game showed is that Penn State is a great team," Shoji said. "We were doing things we wanted to do and we still couldn't score."
In the first semifinal, Destinee Hooker led the Longhorns (29-1) with 17 kills.
