University of Hawaii men’s volleyball preview: Rainbow Warriors aim to be chasing an NCAA title

DARRYL OUMI / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
“It’s a good schedule, a challenging one,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “You’re seeing a lot of teams not being able to fill 28, some are at 23.

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DARRYL OUMI / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER

“It’s a good schedule, a challenging one,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “You’re seeing a lot of teams not being able to fill 28, some are at 23.

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This may be the Year of the Rat, but for No. 1 Hawaii, 2020 is the Year of the Dragon.

The Rainbow Warriors are playing “Chase the Dragon” as they aim to run all possible scoring areas from the outer ring of 20 nonconference contests to the middle ring of 10 Big West matches to the postseason ring of two to three matches in the Big West tournament and the two to three matches of the NCAA tournament.

It all culminates in the bull’s-eye of May 9, the title match at EagleBank Arena on the campus of George Mason in Fairfax, Va.

Hawaii also is playing the Ratings Percentage Index game, which in the event the Warriors don’t earn the conference’s automatic berth, would lead to an at-large bid. The postseason snub of 2018 still stings and Hawaii has scheduled tough, home and away, with opponents from all four of the other leagues: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and Conference Carolinas.

With Big West competition accounting for 10 matches, the Warriors have an additional 18 regular-season dates to fill. They’ve accomplished that with all but one of the 18 coming before conference play opens March 13 at No. 13 Cal State Northridge.

There’s home matches against Charleston (EIVA), Emmanuel (Conference Carolinas), Harvard (EIVA), Grand Canyon (MIVA), Queens (independent), Concordia (MPSF) and BYU (MPSF). The away schedule has Lewis (MIVA), Loyola (MIVA), Stanford (MPSF) and Pepperdine (MPSF) plus two exhibitions against Japanese power Nittaidai.

“It’s a good schedule, a challenging one,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “You’re seeing a lot of teams not being able to fill 28, some are at 23.

“It’s more challenging for us in that we need to have more home games than anyone because of the revenue situation.”

Hawaii is a rarity in men’s volleyball as a revenue-producing program. Season ticket sales are over 2,100, the highest since 2,310 in 2005.

Next year will be more of a problem, as the Big West adds two teams for men’s and women’s basketball. With the conflict through mid-March, the Warriors are looking at a lot of Wednesdays and Sundays, not the optimum for attendance.

But that’s a worry for 2021. This is about that dragon — not just chasing it but capturing it.