Another NCAA volleyball tournament.

Another unfavorable draw.

No. 13 Hawaii again was shipped out of its geographical region for the first round of postseason play, this time to Minneapolis,. The all-too-familiar scenario has the Rainbow Wahine (22-5) looking at one familiar foe and, potentially, a second at the University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion.

On Friday, Hawaii faces USC (18-13), which tied for seventh in the Pac-12 and was one of eight teams from its conference to be selected. The Women of Troy last saw the Wahine in the postseason in 2011, ending Hawaii’s year in the regional semifinal at the Stan Sheriff Center; the Wahine ended the Women of Troy’s season in the second round in 2008 and 2009 in Los Angeles.

As for the potential second familiar foe, should Hawaii advance to Saturday’s second round, the Wahine can bet the farm that they’ll see their final opponent of 2015. Minnesota (25-4), the No. 2 national seed, defeated Hawaii in last year’s regional final in Des Moines, Iowa.

Minnesota tied for second in the Big Ten with third-seeded Wisconsin (25-4) and behind defending national champion Nebraska (27-2), which is seeded No. 1. The Golden Gophers, 13-0 at home this year, take on North Dakota (26-9), the Big Sky champion making its NCAA debut.

It’s not the homecoming that Hawaii assistant coach Lindsey Berg wanted.

It’s possibly the worst draw we could pull, to tell you the truth,” said Berg, the all-conference setter for the Golden Gophers from 1998 to 2001. “Minnesota is a hot team, they beat Nebraska and Wisconsin last week.

“But I’m just worried about USC. Maybe they aren’t the team that they have been, but they have athletes. It’s a tough first round and I don’t think the committee helped us at all. But you have to win them all to win it all.”

As it worked out during Sunday’s selection show, Hawaii was the last team announced on the 64-team bracket. It aptly mirrored Wahine coach Dave Shoji’s feeling about his draw.

“I don’t know what the (selection committee) is thinking,” he said. “They put teams in regional situation and then, at the end, they have to send people out (of the region). And we got sent out … again.

“They aren’t looking to be fair to everybody. I look at our RPI (28 in last Monday’s Ratings Percentage Index) and at what the teams around us drew. I don’t understand. But we can’t worry about that now. It’s a done deal and we’ve got to get ready for SC.”

The last time Hawaii was in Minneapolis was the final four of 1988. The Wahine lost in the title match to Texas, which was coached by Mick Haley, now the USC coach.

“I’m excited to play SC, just not necessarily excited to play geographically where we are,” Hawaii senior opposite Nikki Taylor said. “If we get to play Minnesota, yes they’re home but that’s something that athletes strive for, to thrive in those stress conditions.

“We’re excited to show everyone what kind of team we are. We know that no matter who we’re playing, they don’t want to play us. That’s the chip on our shoulder.”

This is Hawaii’s 35th trip to the NCAA tournament and 24th consecutive. The Wahine only missed out in 1992, a 15-12 injury-plagued season when the tournament field was at 32 teams.

Only Stanford and Penn State have appeared in all 36 NCAA tournaments. The Cardinal (21-7) are seeded sixth nationally and the Nittany Lions (22-9) at No. 16.

Hawaii was the only Big West team selected. Of the Wahine’s 10 nonconference opponents, four were among the 16 seeds (No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 6 Washington, No. 10 UCLA and No. 14 Kansas State) while Arizona, Missouri State and Northern Illinois also made the field.

For the first time, there are no predetermined regional sites. The highest remaining seed in each region would host the regional.

Should Hawaii advance past the second round, the other seeded teams in its pod are No. 7 North Carolina, No. 10 UCLA and No. 15 Missouri.