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The Hawaii men’s volleyball program opened at No. 3 in Thursday’s preseason AVCA Division I-II Top 15, the Rainbow Warriors’ highest ranking since 2005.
Defending national champion Long Beach State was a unanimous No. 1 choice, receiving all 16 first-place votes. UCLA, which lost to the 49ers in the NCAA title match, was at No. 2, with UC Irvine No. 4 and Brigham Young No. 5.
Five of the Big West’s six teams were ranked, with No. 10 UC Santa Barbara and No. 11 Cal State Northridge joining LBSU, UH and UCI. The Warriors, who lost to The Beach in the inaugural Big West tournament last April, will host the conference tourney April 18-20 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii returns nearly its entire starting lineup from the 19-8 squad that finished second in the Big West. Among the returnees are four who earned All-America recognition: senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg (first team), senior setter Joe Worsley (second team), junior opposite Rado Parapunov (honorable mention) and junior middle Patrick Gasman (honorable mention).
The Warriors open the season Jan. 4 and 5 with exhibitions against British Columbia at the Sheriff Center. Hawaii then hosts the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, Jan. 10-12, with USC, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Concordia-Irvine.
SandBows announce season schedule
Hawaii, which finished third at May’s NCAA championship, will see six of the seven teams that also were in that national field during this coming regular season.
The Rainbow Wahine will host defending champion UCLA in the season-opening Duke Kahanamoku Classic at Queen’s Beach on Feb. 23-24. Also in the field are Pepperdine, Stanford and Saint Mary’s. The SandBows defeated the Waves en route to reaching the national semifinals against the Bruins, falling 3-2.
Hawaii’s other two home tournaments are the March 16-17 Heineken Invitational with Cal, Nebraska and Boise State, and the April 13-14 Queen’s Cup with Loyola Marymount, San Jose State and Washington.
Among the SandBows’ four road tournaments are the Big West Championships at Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif. Hawaii is seeking its fourth consecutive conference title.
The SandBows have two televised single matches at the Ching Complex — against Nebraska on March 18, and Washington on April 15, the latter their senior night.
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