This week is about more than playing at home on April 15. It’s about building, both confidence and resume.

No. 4 Hawaii and No. 6 UCLA are on the same volleyball path when it comes to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament hosting hopes, a path very much on a collision course at the Wooden Center. While there are scenarios where the outcome of the UH-UCLA matches Friday and Saturday aren’t quite as critical — a loss by UC Irvine on either of those nights would keep the Rainbow Warriors home regardless of the outcome against the Bruins — both Hawaii and UCLA would prefer to control their respective destinies.

“We’re going there with the mind-set that we need to win both to host,” Hawaii senior setter Jennings Franciskovic said before the team left Wednesday for Los Angeles. “I think it’s going to be a good test for us and I’m excited to see how we do.

“There’s pressure on us and that’s good, there’s the at-large (NCAA berth) stuff. It’s all about us playing our game.”

All of this drama on the final week of the regular season would have been somewhat moot had UCLA lost at Cal Baptist last Saturday. Instead the Bruins held off six match points in Set 5, rallying to win 20-18.

The Warriors, who were at the UH baseball game that night, were watching on the internet and “that would have clinched it for us,” Hawaii assistant coach Joshua Walker said. “But we’re still working on our resume (for the postseason) so regardless if we had clinched we still want to go up and beat UCLA.

“Every game matters for the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) and we want to win as many games as possible.”

Two years ago, the Warriors received an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament despite losing in the MPSF semifinals based on their RPI. Currently, Hawaii’s RPI is at 4; the Warriors are behind BYU, Ohio State and Long Beach State with UC Irvine at 5 and UCLA at 6.

While there is no question that Hawaii is healthy after a bye week, there are plenty of question marks waiting for them in Westwood. Some are about the opposing lineup; the injury-hampered Bruins have not had their expected starting unit on the floor since January with sophomore setter Micah Ma’a (Punahou), junior hitter Jake Arnitz and senior middle Mitch Stahl among walking wounded during a stretch where UCLA dropped six of seven.

The latest casualty may be sophomore hitter Dylan Missry, who took a knee to the head in Saturday’s match at Cal Baptist and is listed as questionable.

“In volleyball, you maybe have one significant injury in a season but we’ve had multiple significant ones,” UCLA coach John Speraw said in a telephone call on Wednesday. “It’s been frustrating, there was a stretch of matches where we were pretty banged up, but we’re still in a position to be top-four and host.”

Another question mark for the Warriors is playing in the 2,000-seat John Wooden Center and not the 13,800-seat Pauley Pavilion due to a conflicting event. Hawaii has only played in the Wooden once in its past five matches at UCLA, that coming in 2013; UCLA has played only three of its 12 home matches this year in the Wooden.

Warrior senor hitter Kupono Fey, also a Punahou graduate, said he was looking forward to playing against the “local boys” on the Bruin roster: Ma’a and senior hitter Michael Fisher (Hawaii Baptist).

“It’s different because you’ve known these guys for a long time, have been competing with and against them,” Fey said. “You talk to them before the match, you talk to them after and, yes, you talk to them during. There are conversations through the net.”

Saturday will be senior night for Fisher and three other Bruins.

“It won’t be the showcase that Hawaii has but we’ll have a little something after the match,” Speraw said.

Franciskovic will be celebrating too.

“It’s kind of like a second senior night for me,” said Franciskovic, who grew up some 30 miles away in Westlake Village. “I’ll have some family and friends coming down. It’s always exciting to go back home and play against UCLA.”

Hawaii has a modest two-match winning streak, its 15-match skein snapped with two losses at BYU March 17-18. UCLA has won its last seven.

Depending on this week’s outcome, the Warriors (12-4 MPSF), the Bruins (10-6) and the Anteaters (11-5) will finish somewhere between third and fifth. Both Hawaii and UCLA have the tiebreaker on UCI should all three teams end with six league losses.