There are many trophies for football rivalries, including the Paniolo for when Hawaii meets Wyoming on Saturday.

Although there’s no corresponding swag in volleyball, perhaps there should be. At least for Saturday’s match when No. 24 Hawaii travels to face longtime rival and sometime nemesis Long Beach State.

The Beach Ball anyone?

But given what traditionally has been on the line when these two stare through the net at each other, maybe no hardware is needed. A number of times it was to get out of a regional and into the final four, including 1989 when the 49ers spoiled the Rainbow Wahine’s much-anticipated homecoming appearance at Blaisdell Arena, the first time the final four was to be played in Hawaii. (The Beach went on to win the first of their three NCAA championships).

"Some of the best all-time volleyball matches were between Hawaii and Long Beach State," said 49ers coach Brian Gimmillaro, whose team trails in the series 28-15 but leads 5-2 in postseason play. "Unfortunately, people (nationally) never saw them. But those matches were played in front of really good fans who appreciate really good volleyball.

"Saturday? I know Hawaii is good. They’re good at a lot of positions. They’re well-coached, and that is all you have to know. They’ll do all the things they’ve always done and that they’ve always done well."

However, Gimmillaro doesn’t know what Hawaii team he’ll see Saturday. One that is still undefeated in Big West play or one that just suffered its first loss that snapped a seven-match winning streak. The Rainbow Wahine first have to play at Cal State Northridge on Friday in what will be the Matadors’ home opener after a program-record 15 straight road matches.

The Big West switches travel partners every two years and, with an odd number of teams, Hawaii again is the "lone wolf" with no one to pair with. This season just happens to have two of the top three teams put together in CSUN and The Beach; their match against each other last Saturday was the only match of the week. The match against Hawaii also is the only one this week for the Matadors and 49ers.

"It ends up that these are two of the toughest teams in the conference," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "And we’ll be playing in two very different environments. Northridge’s gym is small (1,600) and darker, and The Pyramid (5,000) is well-lit and spacious.

"But you need to be able to respond wherever you play."

Friday’s match will be the first event on "The Blacktop," CSUN’s new court at the Matadome. Adding to the hoopla is a pre-match fan fair and hype surrounding the live telecast by FOX Prime Ticket.

"Hawaii’s used to that (television) but it’s exciting for us that this will be televised," Matadors coach Jeff Stork said. "It’s going to be nice to play at home against a quality team like Hawaii."

It will be the second straight match that the Matadors face a Big West team unbeaten in conference play. Last Saturday, CSUN lost to Long Beach State 25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22.

"We didn’t do as well as we expected," Stork said. "We got better as the match went on but we weren’t as good defensively as we should have been or needed to be."

Hawaii’s past two trips to the Matadome have been marathons. The Rainbow Wahine won in five in 2012 and lost in five last season in what is the only loss in the series with CSUN in 16 meetings.

The matches this week feature the three Big West teams with the highest RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) with Hawaii at 17, CSUN 20 and Long Beach State 38. The Matadors’ RPI is the highest in program history.

Stork’s tough nonconference schedule again was designed with the RPI in mind. The Matadors went 2-1 against ranked teams during what Stork called Plan B, the just-in-case scenario to get into the NCAA tournament as an at-large team should Plan A (win the conference) not happen.

Hawaii’s two opponents both are heavy with veteran players but are as different as their respective home courts. CSUN, with five seniors and four juniors, relies heavily on a middle attack led by senior Casey Hinger, a two-time All-American averaging 3.15 kills, 0.88 blocks and 2.58 digs per set.

The Beach, with four seniors and and four juniors, has been riding the arm of senior hitter Bre Mackie (2.78 kps, 1.20 blocks ps) and junior hitter Alex Reed (2.88 kps).

"Northridge runs a different system, not traditional, and we’ll have to do some work in tracking their hitters," Shoji said. "Long Beach is very dynamic, a typical Long Beach team. They come at you all the time."