Hawaii at home versus Hawaii on the road. It’s been a tale of two different volleyball teams that opponents are acutely aware of.

The No. 7 Rainbow Warriors (13-6, 1-3 Big West) have dropped their last four, a skid that began at the Stan Sheriff Center on March 10 with a four-set loss to then-No. 4 Brigham Young. Hawaii then went 0-for-the-road without winning a set in two conference setbacks at Cal State Northridge and a nonconference loss at Pepperdine within a span of four days.

“They have been struggling but they’re back home,” said Wyatt Harrison, a 6-foot-4 freshman hitter for UC San Diego, this week’s opponent. “They’re a different team there. And their crowd is always great.

“I’m very excited to play in the Stan Sheriff Center for the first time. I haven’t been home in a while and I’m looking forward to it.”

Harrison was born and raised on Kauai, playing for Kapa’a High through his sophomore year before the family moved to California. His father Todd played for the Warriors in the Klum Gym days of 1987-88 and will be in attendance, as will be numerous family and friends, Wyatt said.

Both Hawaii and UC San Diego (9-12, 0-4) have had over a week to prepare for the Friday-Saturday matches and how to turn around their respective slides. The Tritons, who have lost three in a row and 10 of their past 12, might have better memories of their last defeat.

UCSD nearly knocked off current No. 4 UC Irvine on March 16, falling at home, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 17-15. The Tritons had been swept the previous night up at UCI and “that was a tough one,” said Harrison, who picked up conference freshman of the week honors after a 19 kill, nine dig performance against the Anteaters. “As painful as it was, it was good for our confidence to be that close without Tanner (senior opposite Syftestad) and our setter rolled his ankle during the game. It came down to a couple of key plays.

“To beat Hawaii this week, the biggest key will be to pass well and be in system. They have really good hitters and we need to dig balls.”

It’s one of the keys the Warriors say will be needed to beat UCSD. The Tritons’ close loss to UC Irvine “definitely caught our attention,” Hawaii senior libero Tui Tuileta said. “The (17-15) score speaks for itself. They’ve got the parts. Anything can happen on game day.

“We have a lot of things to work on, serving, passing, blocking, defense … I could go on. We just have to play better. We’ve got to figure it out.”

“The break’s for sure been beneficial in terms of getting the guys’ mind-sets right,” added Warrior junior setter Joe Worsley, who leads the country in assists (11.02 aps). “The past few weeks were emotionally up and down but there is no panic. We’re coming down to the crucial part of the season and we have a lot of opportunities to get things rolling and get momentum for the playoffs.”

Warrior coach Charlie Wade said the disappointment has been over blocking and back-court defense. The Warriors are last in blocking (2.29 bps) in the Big West.

“We did have stuff exposed,” Wade said. “It was nothing tactical the other teams did. We just had guys who were off a little bit. Some of our key contributors who have been really steady did not perform well. And when you have multiple guys being off at one time, you lose.”

Notes

Nationally Hawaii ranks No. 1 in kills (13.64 kps) and assists (12.70 aps), and is No. 2 in hitting percentage (.349). Junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg is No. 3 in kills (4.35 kps) … The 6-8 Syftestad has been cleared to play this week.