Not unanimous, but University of Hawaii volleyball team heads into tourney ranked No. 1

Hawaii will head into the NCAA men’s volleyball championship tournament with the same national ranking as its tournament seed: No. 1. On Monday, the Rainbow Warriors remained atop the AVCA Division I-II Coaches Top 15.

However, unlike the previous three polls, Hawaii (27-2) was not the unanimous choice. The Warriors received 11 of the 16 first-place votes, with Long Beach State (26-2) receiving the other five and staying at No. 2.

(There was no poll last week following Hawaii’s two losses at Long Beach State.)

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion Pepperdine (22-6) moved up a spot to No. 3 and USC (18-10), which earned an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, also moved up one place to No. 4.

Among the other tournament teams, MIVA champion Lewis (25-5) was up a spot to No. 6 and EIVA champion Princeton (17-12) was tied for 13th after not being ranked two weeks ago.

The NCAA tournament opens Thursday with a play-in match between Princeton and host Barton (25-4), the Conference Carolinas champion. The unranked Bulldogs received seven votes in the poll, not enough to break into the Top 15.

The Warriors and 49ers, the second seed and tournament hosts, have byes into the May 2 semifinals. Hawaii faces the winner of the April 30 first-round match between Lewis and USC in the first semifinal (2 p.m.). The winner of the April 30 match between Pepperdine and the Barton-Princeton winner will face Long Beach State in the second semifinal. The national final is set for May 4 at 2 p.m.