A day after winning its second consecutive Big West Conference championship, the Hawaii beach volleyball team earned its second straight appearance in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Rainbow Wahine (26-5) were selected as the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 seed Florida State (27-7) on Friday. The ’Bows lost to the Seminoles at home, 3-2, on March 17 in the Outrigger Hawaii Invitational. They also lost by the same score in last year’s NCAA tournament.

Although UH captured a conference championship, the Rainbow Wahine will compete as an at-large selection. The eight-team field is comprised of the top three teams from the West and East regions. The last two teams in the field receive at-large bids regardless of region and the eight teams are then seeded.

Defending champion Southern California tops the field at No. 1, followed by UCLA and Pepperdine at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. Long Beach State, the tournament’s second at-large bid, is slotted at No. 6, LSU at No. 7 and South Carolina at No. 8 to round out the field.