Jeff Hall agreed. A previously unplanned little side trip on getaway day might be in order.

"That’s a great idea. I’ll go down and grab a little sand and bring a little Hawaii with us," the first-year Rainbow Wahine coach said, as UH made final arrangements for its trip to the AVCA national championship sand volleyball tournament in Alabama. "Hopefully we will win and have reason to bring back some of the sand from there."

The SandBows left Tuesday night, ranked No. 2 in the country with a 17-1 record and 13-match winning streak. But if it is to return with the title, Hall knows UH needs every little bit of magic it can get … maybe sprinkling a few grains from home on the courts at Gulf Shores, Ala., will help the Wahine get over the hump after placing third last year.

Even that might not be enough if and when the Wahine find themselves up against USC — that’s the team that put the only blemish on Hawaii’s 2015 record, is ranked No. 1 and hasn’t lost all season.

Despite admitting USC is "in a class of its own" and being on the wrong end of a 5-0 sweep to it, Hall remains confident should the two top-seeded schools meet. There’s a strong possibility of that in the double-elimination format.

While the Wahine were schooled by the Trojans, he hopes they learned some lessons.

"We match up well with them," he said. "We learned that we have to be more physical and put them on their heels. Serve more aggressive and we have to absolutely block them. We weren’t as aggressive blocking them as we should have been; you have to go for the stuff. You cannot play passively and expect to win."

Before USC, though, Hawaii must focus on its first match Friday morning against Long Beach State. The Wahine have beaten the 49ers twice — 3-2 last month in California, and 4-1 on Saturday in Waikiki.

Their first match on Friday will be at 9 a.m. Central Time — 7 a.m. in California and 4 a.m. in Hawaii. Hall said he doesn’t see it as a problem.

"The travel is good because we’re going really early. We’ll make them get up early the first two mornings," the former UH men’s assistant said. "One thing coaching in Hawaii five years taught me is don’t draw attention to it and just power through it. We’ll get up early, have breakfast, study hall … that’s our usual thing. I got that from (men’s coach) Charlie Wade."

The Warriors are on the road now for postseason, too, at Irvine, Calif., for an MPSF semifinal match Thursday against Pepperdine. And next week the UH women’s water polo team plays in the national tournament, starting May 8 against USC in Stanford, Calif., after Hawaii won the Big West title here Saturday.

The so-called Olympic sports catch the attention of many fans just once every four years. But Hawaii has teams in three of them to follow from afar this week and next as they strive for national championships.

"There’s been a buzz on campus the past couple of days," Hall said. "Things tended to be on the negative side (in UH sports) the past year, but we’ve got some positive things going now."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.