It’s a heavy ball being hit on both sides of the volleyball net this week, a ball pumped up with question marks.

Where will seventh-seeded Hawaii end up for the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament on April 16? Stanford or Brigham Young? Outside shots UCLA or Long Beach State?

Will Cal Baptist be playing at all next week? And, if so, where do the Lancers go as the No. 8 seed? See above as for the possible sites as the MPSF seeding game plays out on the mainland Thursday through Saturday.

While there appears to be more pressure on No. 14 Cal Baptist Friday and Saturday — the Lancers are seeking their first MPSF berth since making the move from NAIA status in 2013 — No. 9 Hawaii also will feel the pressure to play well in its final two home matches, particularly on Saturday, senior night for Brandon Hiehle, Kolby Kanetake and Siki Zarkovic.

“Even though we’re locked into seventh and these matches don’t mean anything in the standings, we want to play well and get two wins,” said Kanetake, third on the program’s career dig list (757). “The motivation is in looking forward to the playoffs, building confidence and momentum.”

After losing twice on the road at UC Santa Barbara, the Rainbow Warriors seek to regain the chemistry and consistency that had them off to a 9-1 start. Hawaii also played well in the middle of March with two road wins at CSUN and two five-set home victories over UC Irvine.

“For our team, it’s about getting back on track,” Warrior coach Charlie Wade said. “We played well against Irvine, hitting for a high percentage and were very efficient. At Santa Barbara, it was hard for us to get it going.

“We just want to be playing our best volleyball next week.”

The uber tight MPSF has Stanford and BYU tied for first and, should it end up that way, the Cardinal have the tiebreaker on the Cougars on points; they split the series in Provo, both matches going five. The Cardinal also have the tougher road this week with matches at third-place UCLA Thursday and at UCSB Saturday.

BYU hosts 11th-place USC Friday and Saturday. The Cougars can claim the top seed with two wins over the Trojans and at least one loss by Stanford.

Equally complicated is the playoff scenario for Cal Baptist. The Lancers need two wins over Hawaii combined with one CSUN loss or one win over the Warriors combined with CSUN losing at UC Irvine and UCI then losing to Long Beach State.

“Going into last week, we figured we’d have to win our final four matches to get into the tournament and that still might not be enough to get in,” Lancers first-year coach Derek Schmitt said. “This will be my first experience coaching at Stan Sheriff so I’m looking forward to that. I know playing at Hawaii is different from most other road venues, but we’re focused on the challenge and excited that a MPSF tournament berth is on the line for us.”

Helping put Cal Baptist in this situation are two island prep products in starting senior hitter Rocky DeLyon (Seabury Hall) and starting freshman libero Emmett Enriques (Kamehameha-Hawaii). DeLyon leads the team in points (3.29 pps), kills (2.73 kps) and aces (27), and is second in digs (110). Enriques, playing in every set, has a team-high 186 digs.

“I am so happy for Rocky,” Schmitt said. “I’m glad that he gets to end his career on a team that has found much more success in the win column than the last two years and he has been a huge factor in our success.

“There was definitely a transition period for Emmett, having been an outside hitter during high school and club, but over time, he has continued to get more and more comfortable at the libero position. After having only three matches with nine or more digs in our first 19 matches, he had a stretch of six matches out of seven with at least nine digs, including three where he had double-digit digs in only three sets.”

As big as the next two matches are for his team, Schmitt said he knows it’s equally as critical for Hawaii.

“It’s a big weekend for Hawaii, knowing that it is senior weekend and their final two home matches,” Schmitt said. “They are going to want to head into the MPSF tournament with some momentum so we expect them to be at their best. We are going to have to match their effort and energy.”