Warriors plan on working harder to retain AVCA ranking

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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii's Taylor Averill hits through Hope International's Daniel Deloney in the second set of the Hope International vs Hawaii volleyball match at Stan Sheriff Center.

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The Rainbow Warrior volleyball team is now No. 1 with a bull’s-eye.

"Now everyone is looking at us," middle blocker Davis Holt said after the Warriors were ranked No. 1 in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II rankings. "We have a lot of expectations from everyone, including ourselves. We’re definitely going to go harder."

The Warriors, who were ranked fourth a week ago, ascended after the top three teams — Loyola-Chicago, Lewis and UC Irvine — suffered defeats. Pepperdine’s victory over Irvine moved the Warriors into sole possession of first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, volleyball’s historically toughest conference.

The Warriors are 17-3 overall and 12-2 in the MPSF.

The Warriors received nine first-place votes and 255 points to rank No. 1 nationally for the first time since Feb. 24, 2004.

Loyola is second with six No. 1 votes and 249 points, followed by Lewis, Pepperdine and UC Irvine.

"It’s a privilege to be No. 1," outside hitter Siki Zarkovic said. "Being on top is really great. However, we shouldn’t be relaxed. We have eight more (regular-season matches) to go."

The Warriors will maintain their spot atop the MPSF — and, perhaps, the AVCA rankings — for another two weeks. The Warriors have a bye this weekend. They resume MPSF competition on March 27 with a four-match road trip against UC San Diego and UCLA.

The top eight MPSF teams qualify for the league’s playoffs. The top four serve as opening-round hosts. The highest remaining seed hosts both the MPSF semifinals and championship match.

"If anything, we’d love to do that for the state," middle blocker Taylor Averill said after Saturday’s victory over NAIA member Hope International. "We’d love to bring the MPSF finals here."

Told of the top ranking on Monday morning, Holt said: "That’s nice. To be honest, it doesn’t matter if we’re No. 1 now. It matters if we’re No. 1 at the end of the season. That’s where we want to be. I want to win the whole thing. I feel we’re good enough to finish off No. 1. I hope we can maintain it the rest of the season."

The Warriors practiced on Monday afternoon without head coach Charlie Wade, who is recruiting in Europe.

"Being No. 1, we have to practice harder and get better," Zarkovic said.