UH volleyball awarded at-large berth to NCAA tournament

The power of Hawaii volleyball?

Enough that the pilot of the Rainbow Warriors’ return flight to Honolulu on Sunday got the NCAA tournament bracket information and announced it in-flight to all those aboard.

“It was pretty cool,” Hawaii senior hitter Kupono Fey said of the way the team learned it would be back in the air soon and headed to Columbus, Ohio.

The Warriors were awarded one of two at-large berths into next week’s competition at Ohio State’s St. John Arena with the other going to the last team Hawaii beat: third-seeded Brigham Young.

Fourth-seeded Hawaii (26-5) will face fifth-seeded Penn State (21-10), the EIVA champion, in the second play-in match on May 2. The winner advances to play top-seeded and defending national champion Ohio State (30-2) in the second semifinal on May 6.

In the first play-in match on May 2, BYU (24-4) takes on Conference Carolinas champion Barton (23-5). The winner moves on to face second-seeded Long Beach State (27-3) in the first semifinal on May 4.

The semifinal winners meet May 6 for the title.

This is Hawaii’s fifth national tournament appearance and the Warriors have seen Penn State the previous four times. The Warriors defeated the Nittany Lions in the 1996 and 2002 semifinals, while losing in the 1995 semifinal and 2015 play-in match.

“It seems like an annual occurrence for us,” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said in a telephone call Sunday. “I think we have a great challenge ahead.

“Hawaii arguably is one of the hottest teams and Charlie (Hawaii coach Wade) has done a nice job offensively and defensively. They’ll play at a high level and I’m expecting to see some big-boy volleyball.”

The question that remains for Hawaii is the health of senior Hendrik Mol, who suffered an apparent right ankle sprain in Saturday’s loss at Long Beach State in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Mol, who has overcome an eye infection that nearly forced his retirement from the sport, was in “good spirits,” according to Fey.

Mol’s Instagram hashtag was #setbacksareforcomebacks.

“We’ll take a look at him tomorrow,” Wade said. “For sure it’s better that our next match is next week and not Saturday.”

The NCAA had toyed with having the play-in matches at host sites this Saturday but opted to bring all six teams to the national championship site.

As for seeing Penn State for the second time in three years, “We’re familiar with a few guys from that 2015 team and some from recruiting,” Wade said. “They’re playing well and they were one of two teams to beat Ohio State (the other was UC Irvine).

“For us, it’s more exciting to be able to play new teams, Penn State and then maybe Ohio State. That’s part of the fun, playing on the national stage against someone different than guys we just saw (BYU and Long Beach State).”

Wade said he had asked the pilot of Sunday’s flight if it would be possible to check on the NCAA bracket since the selection show was happening about midway through Hawaii’s flight from Los Angeles.

“The flight attendant came back and handed me a printout and the pilot announced that, ‘Hawaii will be the fourth seed in the NCAA volleyball tournament and play Penn State.’ ”

“Everyone started clapping,” Fey said. “It was pretty cool.”