Hawaii men’s volleyball named top seed in NCAA tourney
ANDREW LEE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Colton Cowell (17) slams down a point past Long Beach State’s Nick Amado (25) and Josh Tuaniga (10) during the 2019 Big West Conference championship on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center at UH-Manoa.
The Hawaii men’s volleyball team today was named the top seed in the NCAA national championship tournament, it was announced on NCAA.com.
It was the first time the Rainbow Warriors (27-2) have been the top seed in the national tournament; their previous best was second in 2002. This will be Hawaii’s sixth appearance in the national tournament, first since 2017 where the Warriors finished tied for third.
Defending national champion Long Beach State (26-2), which lost in the Big West tournament championship match on Saturday to Hawaii in five, is seeded second.
Both Hawaii and Long Beach State have byes into the May 2 semifinals hosted by the 49ers. The Warriors will face the winner of the April 30 match between MPSF runner-up USC (18-10) and MIVA champion Lewis (25-5).
In the opening round on Thursday, Conference Carolinas champion Barton (25-4) will host EIVA champion Princeton (16-12). The winner of that will play Pepperdine (22-6) on April 30, at Long Beach State.
That winner plays Long Beach State in the semifinals at the Pyramid where Long Beach State has won its last 41 matches.
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