The No. 5 University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team will host the Big West Tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center, which begins on Thursday and ends on Saturday.
At 22-6 overall and 5-5 in Big West play, Hawaii will enter as the No. 3 seed in the tournament, taking on unranked but dangerous UC Santa Barbara, the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament.
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First serve between the Rainbow Warriors and Gauchos is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday.
UCSB returns to the islands after losing a pair of matches to UH in Manoa at the end of March, which included an eventful win for the ‘Bows on senior night in which Hawaii was penalized for a yellow card and a red card in the fifth set.
Hawaii enters the Big West tournament ranked fifth nationally in the AVCA/NVA National Collegiate MVB Poll. Were UH to win on Thursday, it would face national No. 3 and Big West 2 seed UC Irvine, which has an RPI of 4. Hawaii is 2-1 against the Anteaters in 2024. Another win on Friday may not be enough propel the Rainbow Warriors into the NCAA Tournament, which only has two at-large bids available, after the ‘Bows were swept at unranked UC San Diego to end their road trip on Saturday.