The last time the UAA volleyball competed in the NCAA Division II playoffs, the seniors on the current squad -- Calli Scott, Ashley Bates and Stacie Meisner -- were 2 years old.

Three of this year's freshman had not been born and a fourth -- Eagle River's Nikkie Viotto -- was less than a month old when the Seawolves lost to Portland State in their opening-round match in 1990.

Today the postseason drought ends as the fifth-seeded Seawolves (22-7) face fourth-seeded Hawaii Hilo (25-1) at 4 p.m. AST in the West Regional in San Bernardino, Calif.

"It's pretty amazing," said Scott, in a phone interview during the team's layover in Seattle on Tuesday. "Half of us didn't realize how long it had been until people started talking about it. It's a wonderful feeling."

Scott and her teammates have a chance to do something no previous UAA squad has done: Win a postseason match. Both of the Seawolves prior playoff appearances ended in three-set losses -- the Seawolves lost 3-0 at Sacramento State in 1989.

"We're absolutely ecstatic to make it this far," Scott said. "If we can get a win it would be huge."

Hilo won the Pac West Conference title and went 6-0 against Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams. That included a home win over GNAC champion UAA on Sept. 11 -- the Vulcans delivered a crushing 25-16, 25-11, 25-14 lesson -- and five-set road victories over Seattle Pacific and UAF.

"The biggest reason we got beat was on our side of the court," UAA coach Chris Green said. "Offensively we did not do a very good job across the board. Our block didn't slow them down very much. But they are a very good team. Even if we played well they would've been hard to beat."

The Seawolves were 5-4 after the loss to Hilo. In the team's next match, it lost the first two sets before rallying to beat BYU-Hawaii, beginning a stretch in which UAA won 17 of 20 matches, including a school-record 12 wins in a row to end the season.

In the September loss, UAA had 17 kills with 24 errors on 101 attacks, a negative .069 hitting percentage. The team's top two hitters -- juniors McKenzie Moss and Jackie Mathiesen -- combined for eight kills. Scott had a season-low 15 assists.

Hilo had 40 kills and hit at a .262 rate in the win.

"We've gotten a lot better throughout the season, but I'm sure they have gotten better too," Scott said. "We need to set up a strong block against them. All of their hitters are heavy handed. They are a great hitting team."

With the forecast this week in San Bernardino calling for lots of sun and temperatures in the 70s, the Seawolves have another reason to be glad for a bonus late-season road trip.

"I'm extremely excited to be heading to California," Scott said. "Everyone has been checking out the Weather Channel and seeing the temperatures."

The other first-round matches have No. 1-seed Cal State-San Bernardino (29-1) facing No. 8 Seattle Pacific (17-11); No. 2 UC San Diego (28-2) against No. 7 San Francisco State (20-10) and No. 3 Sonoma State (23-7) meeting No. 6 Cal State-Los Angeles (21-8).

If the Seawolves win, they would face either San Bernardino or Seattle Pacific on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

The region championship is set for Saturday at 6 p.m.

Find Richard Larson online at adn.com/contact/rlarson or call 257-4335.

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