UH faces The Beach as Big West heads toward wild finish

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Hawaii may have switched conferences, along with five former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponents, but it hasn’t made a difference when it comes to the final week of the regular season. Just as seeding into the MPSF tournament often went down to the final two nights — even the final night — it is the same this week in the Big West.

The only difference this year is all league teams qualify for next week’s conference tourney.

The givens are:

1) Host Long Beach State (23-0, 8-0) is the top seed;

2) UC San Diego (9-16, 0-8) has the No. 8 seed;

3) It will be a wild finish with the possibility of a four-way tie for second place.

For No. 6 Hawaii, the given is this: Win both matches with the top-ranked 49ers and they will earn the second seed and the first-round bye next Thursday at the Walter Pyramid. It is a daunting task. The Beach has only dropped seven sets in 23 matches, with current No. 4 UC Irvine the only team to force a Set 5. The visiting Anteaters fell 22-25, 25-15, 25-16, 21-25, 15-9 on March 30.

It is daunting but doable according to the Rainbow Warriors, who returned home Sunday, buoyed by a two-match road sweep at UC Santa Barbara.

“Obviously they are the best team we will have faced this year,” Hawaii senior libero Tui Tuileta said. “Josh (junior setter Tuaniga) can really run an offense and they’ve got the best player in the country (junior hitter TJ DeFalco). They have a lot of guys who have been playing together for a long time and their team chemistry is there for sure.

“It’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to play good all around, serve tough, receive (serve) even better. You never know.”

The Warriors feel the same way about last year’s MPSF final against the 49ers. Hawaii controlled the first set, 25-17, but was trailing 19-15 in Set 2 when senior middle Hendrik Mol went down with a leg injury and never returned.

Hawaii regrouped after a disastrous Set 3 (25-13), tying it at 20 in Set 4. Stijn van Tilburg served what looked to be an ace, but it was ruled long (no video replay) and the 49ers went on to close it out 25-23.

“Who knows what would have happened if we don’t lose Mol, or the serve is called in and we win Set 4,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “That’s in the past. We are very familiar with their personnel. They’re obviously very good at everything, but we’re playing at a level that we feel confident we can win.

“We have a real opportunity to validate our season.”

Hawaii hasn’t defeated The Beach since winning both at Long Beach State in 2015. Repeat that feat this week and the Warriors earn the No. 2 seed regardless of what UC Irvine — currently tied with UH at 5-3 — does when finishing out home and away against UC Santa Barbara.

Hawaii has the tiebreaker on UCI and UCSB, but should there be a four-way tie with UH, UCI, UCSB and Cal State Northridge at 5-5, the Matadors would claim the second seed and the Warriors the third.

The 49ers have the luxury of knowing win or lose this week that they won’t play until next Friday’s second semifinal. Their focus has been playing well every night out and letting the rest take care of itself.

“This group has been very good about ‘avoid the noise’ and chopping the season up into one week at a time,” said 49ers coach Alan Knipe, arriving in Honolulu on Wednesday. “This week, it’s two really good teams with a history of really good competition against each other.

“It’s always fun to play there. It’s one of the great venues of collegiate volleyball. It’s everything you want with a wonderful, knowledgeable crowd. They know the game and they know when they see good volleyball.”

And that it should be the next two nights. The Warriors and 49ers are Nos. 1 and 2 nationally in kills per set (UH 13.82, LBS 13.07) and hitting percentage (LBS .393, UH .356).

Warriors junior setter Joe Worsley is second in the country in assists (11.14) and Tuaniga is fourth (10.81). Van Tilburg ranks fourth in kills (4.12) with the 49ers’ junior hitter Kyle Ensing 18th (3.56) and DeFalco, the reigning national player of the year, 20th (3.53).