Hawaii 5-0, Part II.

The last time the Rainbow Warriors were heading out on the road, they took a 5-0 record with them after opening the volleyball season undefeated at home.

New month, similar scenario. Hawaii left today for its second trek with a winning streak matching its national ranking: 5.

The Warriors (10-2, 3-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) open their four-matches-in-six-days, two-state tour Friday at UC San Diego (4-5, 1-4), one of just three MPSF teams not ranked in the national poll. They see another of the three on Saturday when heading up the I-15 that morning to play Cal Baptist (3-8, 1-6).

“It’s one of the perks of playing high-level volleyball, traveling where you’ve never been,” Hawaii sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg of his first visits to San Diego and Riverside, Calif. “But everyone has to remind themselves that we are there to play volleyball and not be tourists.

“(UCSD) had a big win last week (at USC) and that should wake people up. We went five with Cal Baptist last year. We need to keep doing our job, continue our momentum. We always say to each other that we should never give other teams hope to win against us.”

The Tritons first have to put their four-match winning streak on the line tonight against visiting Cal State Northridge. UCSD’s win over the Trojans last Saturday snapped a 49-match conference losing skid dating back to 2014.

“San Diego is playing well and their opposite (Tanner Syftestad) is scoring at a very high level,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said of the 6-foot-9 junior who is averaging 4.24 kills per set. “We’re going to have to play well against them.

“We know we can play better. We continue to work on defense and our guys like the identity of being a defensive team. That we lead the league in both digging and blocking means we’re doing some good things. We want to keep doing more things better.”

It is rare that a team would lead in both defensive categories as blocks end plays and prevent dig opportunities. Hawaii is averaging 2.57 blocks and 8.86 digs per set.

The Warriors have spent a successful 17 days at home, accumulating four victories, two each over Grand View and UC Santa Barbara. The time in their own gym gave them time to work on weaknesses exposed on last month’s first road trip.

“We didn’t really have a lot of competition before we went on the first one,” sophomore hitter Brett Rosenmeier said. “We didn’t know what our weaknesses were and we’ve been working on turning those into strengths.

“This road trip is pretty important. It will show if we’ve gotten better. Every MPSF match is important, no matter if the teams aren’t at the top of the rankings. There are good players everywhere and they play good volleyball.”

After Saturday’s match, the Warriors will fly to Saint Louis for two matches against Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association teams. Up first is Lindenwood (0-9, 0-6) on Tuesday and then McKendree (5-8, 1-2) on Wednesday.

It’s the first time the Warriors are going farther than Utah (BYU) for regular-season matches. It’s the first of planned annual trips, Wade said.

With Hawaii moving to the Big West next season, opening up nonconference playing dates,“We’ll be going every year, you have to for the RPI,” Wade said of the Ratings Percentage Index that measures strength of schedule and is used by the NCAA for postseason at-large berths. “We’re going to Grand Canyon for a tournament next year and we might do another (nonconference trip).

“One of the things I’ll be working on during this trip is our schedule for next year.”

Wade said that next January’s Outrigger Resorts Invitational will include BYU and Lewis, and possibly Penn State.