If Hawaii has a conference rival in volleyball — indoor or beach — it has been “The Beach.” Whether it was women’s indoor, men’s indoor (see last Saturday at the Pyramid) or women’s beach, the stakes seem higher when playing the 49ers.

That will be true this weekend when the second-seeded Rainbow Wahine open defense of their Big West beach volleyball crown. Hawaii (23-5) comes into tournament play at Pismo Beach, Calif., ranked behind Long Beach State (24-6) in the AVCA Top 15 poll as well as seeded second behind the 49ers.

Of the SandBows’ five losses this season, four have been by a 3-2 score, including the April 1 result at the Big West Challenge. The 49ers left Huntington Beach, Calif., with a 3-2 victory, the only time Hawaii lost to a lower-ranked team this season.

“Having lost to Long Beach earlier means we have something more to fight for,” UH senior All-American Nikki Taylor said. “It means a lot for what happens for the (NCAA tournament) selection. It’s very much like the indoor season with all the things we’re fighting for.”

All of the matches were straight-set wins or losses against Long Beach State earlier this month, including Taylor and Ka’iwi Schucht falling 21-15, 21-15 to Sasha Karelov and Kobi Pekich. If things go according to seed, Taylor will be going for the program’s all-time individual victories record against the 49ers in Saturday’s winners bracket semifinal.

Taylor can tie graduated All-American Katie Spieler at 102 wins in Friday’s opener against the winner of third-seeded Cal Poly (12-21) and sixth-seeded Cal State Bakersfield (2-15). Both the SandBows and 49ers have first-round byes in the six-team tournament.

In last season’s inaugural Big West tournament, Hawaii defeated Long Beach State twice 3-2 to earn the banner that now hangs at the Ching Complex courts.

“We’re not looking past Cal Poly but The Beach is who we’re targeting,” SandBows coach Jeff Hall said. “We were disappointed in the result the last time and we’re hungry to prove something as well as defend our Big West championship.

“We are playing from behind and our team has been more motivated against someone who is ranked ahead of us. I think it’s better being the underdog, you have nothing to lose. It sets up very nicely for us.”

Although there is no automatic berth into next week’s NCAA championship at Gulf Shores, Ala., the Big West champion likely would get one of the top seeds. More than likely the runner-up would get an at-large but Hawaii doesn’t want to leave it up to the selection committee.

“I think our body of work speaks for itself,” Hall said. “And we want to continue the tradition of putting up that (conference) banner.”

The SandBows have gone 8-1 since that loss to the 49ers and have won five straight, including a 4-1 upset of No. 7 Pepperdine on April 7. Ari Homayun and Carly Kan are riding a 10-match win streak at the No. 4 flight while Schucht- Taylor at No. 2 and Laurel Weaver-Emily Maglio at No. 3 have won five straight.

“I think everyone is fired up, especially to play Long Beach,” All-American Maglio said. “There is motivation, we want to beat them and beat everyone all the way to a national championship.

“We’ve never played (at Pismo Beach) so we don’t know what to expect. It will be a nice change of scenery and a good tournament to end the regular season. And then go to Alabama.”

Hawaii will remain in California awaiting an NCAA bid and watch Sunday’s selection show in Santa Barbara. The live stream is available at NCAA.com starting at 1 p.m.