Warriors remain No. 1 in AVCA poll | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.

Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.

Get unlimited access

From as low as $12.95 /mo.

Subscribe Now

Hawaii held on to the top spot in the NVA/AVCA Men’s National Collegiate Poll after sweeping through a second straight road trip.

Next up for the Rainbow Warriors, an opportunity to move up in the Big West standings.

The No. 1 Warriors (22-2, 5-1 Big West) return to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center to face conference leader and fifth-ranked UC Irvine (16-6, 6-0) in a two-match series starting Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“They’re all important and they all count the same, but there’s no doubt (the Anteaters are) one of the better teams in the country and we’re going to have to play well to win,” UH coach Charlie Wade told media following Saturday’s sweep at UC Santa Barbara.

UH has swept it last five matches and received 14 of 22 first-place votes in the AVCA poll released Monday, down from 17 last week. No. 2 UCLA closed the gap after sweeping a series against No. 6 Grand Canyon. Penn State remained third, followed by Long Beach State and UC Irvine.

UC Irvine swept a home-and-home series with No. 15 Cal State Northridge last weekend and claimed two of the Big West’s weekly awards on Monday. Opposite Francesco Sani was named the Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 5.67 kills while hitting .397 (34 kills, seven errors, 68 attempts) against CSUN. Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev (5 kills, 9 attacks) was named Freshman of the Week.

Repeat honor for Glagau and Van Sickle

Hawaii’s duo of Kaylee Glagau and Brooke Van Sickle claimed a second straight Big West Pairs Team of the Week award on Monday.

Glagau and Van Sickle earned the honor for the third time this season and the seventh time overall. They went 4-1 last week, winning all four of their matches in the East Meets West Invitational in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Playing at the No. 1 flight, Glagau and Van Sickle earned wins over the top pairs from No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 LSU in the tournament and improved to 23-2 this season.

The eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine (22-6) return to action April 15-16 against Arizona and Georgia State at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex.