No matter which position Kamalani Akeo was going to play, she knew Pittsburgh coach Dan Fisher was taking a chance on her.

Akeo, who was a setter her entire career through high school at Kamehameha, was either going to transition to libero, a position she had never played, or attempt to set despite being only 5 feet 7 (officially) at the Division I level.

After being recruited as a libero, Akeo found out in June before her freshman season that she would try out at setter instead.

A year later, in her first full season as the starter, Akeo was named the ACC setter of the year on Monday for a Panthers team that leads the conference in kills and assists.

“It was a bit of a surprise for me and I’m like really, really happy and just really grateful for it,” Akeo said Tuesday. “It helps to have the best hitters in the conference on my team. Our hitting percentages are the highest in the ACC, and when you have hitters like that who want to crush it all the time, it definitely helps a setter out.”

Akeo, a 2015 Warriors alumna, has dished out 1,300 assists this season and ranks third in the conference with 10.92 assists per set for Pittsburgh (24-8, 15-5).

After winning their last four matches and 10 of the last 11 overall, the Panthers gathered Sunday for the NCAA Selection Show and found out they’d been selected for the NCAA tournament and will open with Dayton in the first round on Friday in University Park, Pa.

The Flyers are 30-1 overall with a perfect 14-0 record in the Atlantic-10 Conference.

“We’re really excited to play them and I know it’s going to be a really competitive game for sure,” Akeo said.

Akeo was one of two setters the Panthers used last season when they finished with a similar record of 23-7. They were 13-7 in ACC play and were left out of the tournament.

This year, Pittsburgh improved by two games in conference and felt a little better about its tournament chances when the team gathered to watch the selection show.

“Honestly, we had almost the same résumé (last year) and thought we still had a chance to make it,” said Akeo, who has 1,859 assists over her first two seasons. “Going into this year I had a little more confidence in our team because (we beat) teams like Michigan and (North Carolina), so the feeling was a little less tense.”

The Panthers won their first four games in conference play before stumbling during a road trip to North Carolina, losing to Duke and Wake Forest.

The Panthers were 5-4 with losses to Florida State and Notre Dame in consecutive games in mid-October before rallying to close with a 10-1 record and a big win in five sets versus North Carolina, which is seeded seventh in the tournament.

“Losing to Wake Forest right after (losing to Duke), we didn’t expect that and I think that was a point of the season where we knew as a team we really had to win all of our necessary games and beat everyone we should beat,” Akeo said. “We regrouped after that whole week and I really think even though it was scary at the time, we wouldn’t have had such a great finish to our season if we didn’t have those two losses that weekend.”

Pittsburgh will play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004, with Akeo meeting the goal she set for herself over the summer.

“I knew I wanted to go to the NCAA tournament and make a huge impact on my team and I think that kind of started because of the seniors from last year,” said Akeo, who is listed at 5-7 but says she’s 5-6. “I wanted to be like them and have a bigger role on the team and it’s also nice to have a coach that believes in you (even though) I’m a 5-6 setter at the Division I level.”

Fisher took over the program in January 2013 after serving three years as an associate head coach for the Hawaii men’s team from 2009 to ’11.

During his time in Hawaii, Fisher met Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, who coached Akeo in club volleyball and got the two in touch to set up Akeo’s recruitment to Pittsburgh.

“I was lucky enough to have (Ah Mow-Santos) as my (club) coach for three years and I don’t want to say that I practically learned everything I know (from her), but I pretty much did,” Akeo said. “She told me (Fisher) was a really great coach and honestly I’m just lucky enough that he took a chance on me and that’s how I ended up here.”

—-

Akeo is one of 14 players at nine different mainland colleges from Hawaii on NCAA tournament rosters. Here’s a look at all of them.

>> Junior outside hitter Adora Anae (Kahuku ’14) and freshman setter Bailey Choy (‘Iolani ’16) will lead Utah (20-11, 11-9 Pac-12) against UNLV on Friday at 2 p.m. in Provo, Utah. Anae was named to the All-Pac-12 first team for the second straight year after leading the conference in total kills (571), kills per set (4.68), total points (634.5) and points per set (5.20). Choy finished eighth in the Pac-12 with 7.17 assists per set.

>> Pac-12 setter of the year Penina Snuka (Kahuku ’13), All-Pac-12 first team outside hitter Kalei Mau (Kaiser ’13), sophomore Reilly Killeen (‘Iolani ’15) and freshman Sara Watanabe (‘Iolani ’16) will help Arizona (18-14, 10-10) open with Cleveland State on Friday at noon in East Lansing, Mich. Snuka led the conference in total assists (1,307) for the second straight year and became just the 13th player in Pac-12 history to surpass 5,000 career assists. She also led the Wildcats with 31 service aces and was All-Pac-12 first team for the third straight year. Mau earned her second consecutive All-Pac-12 selection after finishing second in the conference behind Anae with 4.03 kills per set.

>> First team All-SEC outside hitter Carly Kan (Punahou ’13) will lead the Missouri Tigers (25-5, 16-2 SEC), who earned the No. 15 national seed to host the first two rounds, against Northern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Kan ranks in the top five all-time at Missouri in kills (1,622), digs (1,372) and points (1,840). She also is in the top 10 in digs per set (2.87) and points per set (3.85).

>> Junior Kelly Matthews (Punahou ’14) and her Princeton Tigers (19-4, 13-1 Ivy) will face junior setter Alohi Robins-Hardy (Kamehameha ’14), freshman setter Kiani Tuileta (Punahou ’15) and the Brigham Young Cougars (27-3, 16-2 West Coast) at 4 p.m. Friday in Provo, Utah. Matthews led the Tigers with 312 digs (3.71 dps) this season. Robins-Hardy has appeared in 28 sets with 108 assists (3.86 aps) while Tuileta had two assists in one set played.

>> Junior Hoakalei Dawson (‘Iolani ’14) has had to sit out this season with a concussion for American University (27-7, 15-1 Patriot), which plays at Michigan in Ann Arbor on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

>> Freshman outside hitter Kiana Peroff (Punahou ’16) has played in four sets and put down five kills for Texas A&M (21-8, 15-3 SEC), which plays SMU in Austin, Texas, at 1 p.m. on Friday.

>> Freshman defensive specialist Treyanna Freitas (King Kekaulike ’16) has one ace in two sets played for Washington State (21-11, 11-9 Pac-12), which plays Marquette at 1 p.m. on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisc.