No. 5 Hawaii heads to this week’s inaugural Big West Beach Volleyball Championship as the top seed in the six-team event in Huntington Beach, Calif., the conference announced today.

The Rainbow Wahine (13-8) have a first-round bye in the double-elimination tournament that begins Friday and will play the winner of the earlier match between Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield at 9 a.m. Hawaii time. Second-seeded and seventh-ranked Long Beach State (11-11) also has a first-round bye and will play the winner of the match between Sacramento State and Cal State Northridge.

Play continues through Saturday’s final at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time. If a deciding match is needed, that will be at 12:30 p.m. Hawaii time.

Also today, Hawaii remained at No. 5 in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Top 10. There was no movement above the SandBows in the poll with Outrigger Resorts Aloha Invitational champion USC (26-2) remaining at No. 1. Pepperdine (19-3) stayed at No. 2 followed by No. 3 Florida State (29-1) and UCLA (13-8).