The fifth-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team has played the Big West conference season like it was another college class.
It was a crash five-week course of figuring out how to integrate a rotation that hasn’t played much volleyball together after the loss of National Player of the Year contender Spyros Chakas to injury.
It was 10 matches of mixed results showing at times the ability to play like an NCAA Tournament team while other times looking like a one-and-done in a conference tournament.
The grades handed out during the regular season have no meaning this week. Hawaii’s final exam, the only grade that matters, comes over as many as three days, and as few as one, starting Thursday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The third-seeded Rainbow Warriors enter the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship as the two-time defending champions.
After finishing conference play at 5-5, Hawaii opens with No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara in Thursday’s nightcap of the first round needing three wins to reach the NCAA Championships for a fifth consecutive season.
The road back would definitely include a semifinal match against No. 2 UC Irvine and possibly end with another final against No. 1 seed Long Beach State on Saturday.
“We’ve played well enough at times over the last few weeks to beat anybody,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said Tuesday. “It’s just maintaining and sustaining it, and playing here at home certainly gives us a lot better chance.”
The conference season has been an up-and-down journey, with each weekend seemingly a roller coaster within an even larger one.
Hawaii split its two-match series against opponents three times in the past four weeks after opening with back-to-back losses to the Beach.
UH’s only sweep was against the Gauchos, but even that didn’t come easy, as Hawaii won the first two sets on senior night before it was forced to go five and squeak out a win over a team that finished the regular season 2-8.
“Like we’ve seen throughout the league, it’s kind of been up and down and no one team has had everybody play well every night,” Wade said. “Last week, everybody split and it’s just kind of gone like that. Statistically there are just guys, you know, that have nights off, and this time of year, whoever is going to win not only this tournament, but the NCAA Tournament, is somebody who is going to put together three good nights in a row.”
Hawaii’s only other back-to-back conference wins came in road victories over UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
The Rainbow Warriors had a chance to close the regular season and enter the tournament riding the momentum of a three-match winning streak, but they were swept on Saturday by the Tritons, who play Cal State Northridge in the opener of the BWC tournament on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
“Sometimes the losses are disappointing, but win or lose you come off a win or a loss with value and you learn things,” senior opposite hitter Alaka‘i Todd said Tuesday. “I think the team learned a lot of things and gained a lot of motivation from the loss on Saturday.”
Hawaii is in somewhat uncharted territory. Its five losses were the most it had suffered in Big West play in a season, and it’s the first time UH did not earn one of the two automatic berths into the Big West tournament semifinals.
Todd, who leads the team among active players with 3.19 kills per set, is one of two senior starters who could be playing in their final matches with the Warriors.
Guilherme Voss, who along with freshman setter Tread Rosenthal are the only Rainbow Warriors to start all 28 matches this season, has put down 54 kills in 84 swings over his past eight matches.
Voss has been to the NCAA final every year of his collegiate career.
“We’ve been in these situations for the past I don’t know how many years, but we just have so much experience in these tough moments,” Todd said. “Having that experience and having that leadership of being here before is going to help immensely.”
Hawaii has won 18 straight matches against UCSB dating back to 2017 and is on a 64-match home winning streak against unranked opponents going back to 2012.
UH remained at No. 6 in the KPI rankings but dropped to No. 8 in this week’s RPI rankings, all but ensuring it would need to win the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament in Long Beach, Calif., in two weeks.
Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Thursday
>> No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 Cal State Northridge, 4:30 p.m.
>> No. 3 Hawaii vs. No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m.
Friday
>> No. 1 Long Beach State vs. UCSD/CSUN winner, 4:30 p.m.
>> No. 2 UC Irvine vs. UH/UCSB winner, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Championship, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports (All games)
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM / 92.7 FM (UH only)
