If it’s Tuesday, it must be skills day. That’s been the routine this season for the Hawaii volleyball team.

Following a day off Monday, the Rainbow Wahine were back in Gym 1 for a 6 a.m. practice, Monotonous in its repetitions perhaps, but necessary for continued improvement midway through the Big West season.

Hawaii is in second place, two games behind Long Beach State, the lone conference unbeaten. With the 49ers having a single match this week — at Cal State Northridge on Saturday — the Wahine look to cut into The Beach’s lead with two road wins at UC Irvine on Friday and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

Hawaii is packing a two-match win streak as well as taking along the reigning conference Freshman of the Week (Kalei Greeley) and Defender of the Week (Sarah Mendoza) on its red-eye flight to Los Angeles on Wednesday night. There are also two additions to the travel roster: Freshman defensive specialists Savanah Kahakai and Giana Guinasso are set to make their first road trip in Wahine uniforms.

"I’m really excited to go back home," said Guinasso, who grew up some 13 miles away from UCI’s Bren Events Center, site of Friday’s match. "I did look at (UCI during the recruiting process), but my mom thought it was too close to home. Now she regrets it. She misses me."

Guinasso said she missed not making the last two road trips — Hawaii traveled with 14 and took sophomore Katiana Ponce and freshman Clare-Marie Anderson — but was able to do "fun things" on the free weekend.

One very fun thing found her a few weeks ago. Guinasso ended up baby-sitting for three-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings during a family wedding at Turtle Bay.

Guinasso’s father, Angelo, is a former pro beach partner of Jennings’ husband, Casey, and "my dad saw Kerri playing in Huntington and they asked about me, then said they were going to Hawaii for her cousin’s wedding," Guinasso said. "They asked me to babysit the three kids and I ended up at the ceremony. It was like, ‘Hey, I’m part of the Walsh family now.’ "

Wednesday afternoon practice will focus more on UCI, which is a game back of Hawaii in third. The Anteaters had won five straight since being swept in Honolulu on Oct. 4 but were swept Monday at San Diego State in nonconference play.

UCI has been without oft-injured junior opposite Marisa Bubica, the Big West leader in kills (4.01 kps), the past two matches. It is unknown whether she will return against Hawaii. She had 12 kills in the first meeting with the Wahine.