One weekend of high-powered volleyball behind.

Yet another to come.

After closing out the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational with a bounce-back win over UCLA in a sold-out arena, the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team will welcome its fiercest rival to SimpliFI Arena at Stan Sheriff Center to open the Big West schedule.

The Rainbow Warriors’ five-week homestand ends with the return of Long Beach State to Manoa for a two-match series in a rematch of last year’s Big West and NCAA tournament finals, both won by UH.

While the rankings may be shuffled when the NVA/AVCA Top 15 is released today, the series set for Friday and Saturday will likely feature two of the nation’s top four teams.

No. 4 Long Beach State (11-2) swept a home-and-away series with UC Santa Barbara last weekend, winning in four and five sets. Meanwhile, No. 1 Hawaii, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Penn State took turns knocking each other off in the Outrigger Invitational to each finish at 2-1. Penn State was awarded its third Outrigger title by set winning percentage, going 8-4. UH was second at 7-4 and UCLA third at 7-5. Purdue Fort Wayne dropped all nine sets during its stay on Oahu.

Penn State nearly pulled off a reverse sweep in a five-set loss to UCLA on Thursday and made its case for the top spot in the polls by snapping UH’s 25-match winning streak on Friday and handing the Warriors — who topped all 10 AVCA polls this season — their first home loss since 2021.

UCLA avenged an earlier loss at Penn State in the Outrigger opener, but had a bid for a 10th tournament title denied by UH’s four-set win on Saturday.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt these are three of the best teams in the country,” UH coach Charlie Wade said after Saturday’s match. “Are they the best three? Maybe. But it’ll play itself out and we’ll see where we are in May.”

The Warriors struggled against Penn State’s serving in the Nittany Lions’ 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 win on Friday. Wade said he sensed the resolve within the team when the Warriors reported for their pre-match practice on Saturday afternoon.

“They were absolutely focused and frankly they were pissed with the way we played (Friday) night, and knew that we’re a better team than we showed and I liked seeing that,” Wade said.

When the Warriors took the court against UCLA, they kept the program’s first sellout crowd since 2020 on edge throughout a 29-27, 21-25, 25-22, 28-26 victory punctuated by a walk-off block by setter Jakob Thelle and middle blocker Kurt Nusterer.

“We embraced that loss in a way,” Thelle said. “I think it was good to have that challenge and forcing us to come back at this point in the season. Everyone’s playing for each other and that’s the reason we’re sitting here victorious. Everyone’s bought into seeing each other happy and seeing each other succeed.”

That included Nusterer, who started against Purdue Fort Wayne and UCLA with Cole Hogland sidelined due to illness. The fiery 6-foot-9 freshman hit .615 in the tournament with nine kills and one error in 13 attacks, closing with an error-free 5-for-6 performance against UCLA.

“(Thelle) gets me up there with no block up,” Nusterer said. “I think my dog could kill the ball with the sets Jakob’s dishing out there.”

”When I heard (Hogland) was out it was another sense of, ‘I’ve got six brothers out there that are counting on me.’ When your family needs you, you’re never going to let them down.”

Dimitrios Mouchlias put away a season-high 22 kills against UCLA and hit .392 while averaging 4.72 kills per set over the weekend to earn the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.

“The joke about him is he’s always better on the second night,” Wade said. “I told him at serve-and-pass that (Friday) night was Night One and (Saturday) was Night Two and he certainly played better.”

Thelle closed his week with 34 assists, four kills and two aces against UCLA and tipped down a kill to cap UH’s 5-2 run to close the pivotal third set thanks in part to a pass from Chaz Galloway.

Galloway had just one kill against the Bruins and was relieved by Filip Humler in the second set. He returned in the third and handled 11 receptions without an error against UCLA’s serves and had three out-of-system assists, including a bump set over his head from the back line that Mouchlias put away in the fourth set.

“Chaz did a nice job bouncing back,” Wade said. “He’s played very well in big matches. From his freshman year, he’s been very comfortable playing on a big stage.”

UH outside hitter Spyros Chakas joined Thelle and Mouchlias on the all-tournament team along with Penn State outside hitter Michal Kowal and libero Ryan Merk and UCLA opposite Ido David and middle blocker Merrick McHenry.