Hawaii’s national championship defense could hinge on protecting its home court.
As host of the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, the Rainbow Warriors will be joined by the conference’s five Southern California members in the three-day tournament at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with a week in Los Angeles awaiting the survivor of Saturday’s title match.
A peaceful night’s sleep figures to be among the stakes for the Warriors entering the week. The defending national champions would be able to rest easy Saturday night if they were to capture the tournament title and the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championship, set for May 1-7 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
Conversely, a loss along the way would leave UH in need of one of two at-large berths into the seven-team NCAA field and could make for some restless hours awaiting Sunday morning’s selection show.
“We certainly control our own destiny now,” UH coach Charlie Wade said earlier this week. “We would like nothing more than to win the tournament and get in directly.”
The Big West tournament returns to Manoa for the third time in the event’s four-year history (not counting the 2020 cancellation) and opens today with two quarterfinal matches. Fourth-seeded UC San Diego takes on No. 5-seed UC Irvine at 4:30 p.m. No. 3-seed UC Santa Barbara takes on No. 6 Cal State Northridge at 7.
Top-seeded Long Beach State and second-seeded Hawaii earned byes into Friday’s semifinal round. The Beach will face the UC San Diego/UC Irvine winner while the Warriors face UCSB or CSUN. The championship match is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Warriors need little reminding of the potential for the unpredictable in tournament play. UH was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country when UC San Diego stunned the Warriors in five sets in last year’s semifinal round.
The only noise in the arena following that match was a product of UCSD’s celebration in the otherwise empty arena. This year, the Warriors will have the backing of a home crowd that helped boost them to a five-set comeback win over UC Santa Barbara on senior night two weeks ago.
“I think we could get close to filling the place up,” Wade said. “That creates an unbelievable environment to be a part of and a nice advantage for us.
“The crowd really can be the wind in our sails. The mana that we feel from having that group supporting us is real.”
While UC Santa Barbara went on to claim last year’s Big West tournament title and the automatic bid, the Warriors had built enough of a resume to still be granted the top seed in the NCAA Championship and swept their way to the title in Columbus, Ohio.
This year, they’re part of a Big West field featuring five teams among the 15 ranked in the AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll and the final weekend of the regular season saw the tournament’s top two seeds pushed to five sets by the bottom two seeds. Long Beach State fought off a match point to fend off CSUN at home last Friday and Hawaii rallied from a 2-1 deficit in a win at UC Irvine on Saturday.
“You better be ready and everybody can play at a high level,” Wade said. “In any match, I wouldn’t be surprised whatever number seed won.”
BIG WEST MEN’S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
>> When: Today to Saturday
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: UH matches on 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Tickets: etickethawaii.com, Stan Sheriff Center box office
Schedule
>> Today — No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 UC Irvine, 4:30 p.m.; No. 3 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 6 Cal State Northridge, 7 p.m.
>> Friday — No. 1 Long Beach State vs. UCSD/UC Irvine winner, 4:30 p.m.; No. 2 Hawaii vs. UCSB/CSUN winner, 7 p.m.
>> Saturday — Championship, 7:30 p.m.
1. Long Beach State (19-4, 8-2)
>> Coach: Alan Knipe
>> National ranking: No. 3 (AVCA), No. 3 (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 1
>> Leaders: OH Alex Nikolov (4.43 kills per set, 0.62 aces per set); OH Spencer Olivier (3.41 kps); L Mason Briggs (2.58 digs per set).
>> Outlook: The 6-foot-7 Nikolov joined the Beach from Sofia, Bulgaria, the same hometown as former UH All-American Rado Parapunov, and emerged as the heavy favorite for Big West Freshman of the Year and a contender for Player of the Year. Nikolov, Olivier and OH Clarke Godbold (2.83 kps) account for 82% of the Beach’s kill total. Briggs’ steadiness in serve reception and back-row defense could be a separator in tight matches. Aidan Knipe (10.98 assists per set) runs the Big West’s most efficient attack at .351, good for third in the nation.
2. Hawaii (22-5, 7-3)
>> Coach: Charlie Wade
>> National ranking: No. 4 (AVCA), No. 4 (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 6
>> Leaders: S Jakob Thelle (0.59 aces per set, 9.78 assists per set); MB Guilherme Voss (.500 hitting pct., 1.31 blocks per set); OH Spyros Chakas (3.17 kps, 0.47 aces per set); OPP Dimitrios Mouchlias (3.47 kps, .351)
>> Outlook: Mouchlias admitted Thelle’s fearlessness in sending sets to any area on the court caught him by surprise at times early in the season. The Warriors now know to expect the ball at any point and Thelle fed Mouchlias for 31 kills against UC Irvine last Saturday. Chakas leads UH with 15 matches with double-digit kills. Wade has been searching for a hot hand at the other outside hitter spot between Chaz Galloway and Filip Humler. UH tops the nation with 2.82 blocks per set, led by Voss and Cole Hogland (1.00 bps).
3. UC Santa Barbara (18-8, 6-4)
>> Coach: Rick McLaughlin
>> National ranking: No. 6 (AVCA), No. 7 (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 8
>> Leaders: OH Ryan Wilcox (3.50 kps, .280); MB Donovan Todorov (.452, 1.14 kps); OPP Haotian Xia (3.06 kps, 0.38 aces per set).
>> Outlook: Wilcox, a Punahou graduate, was named the Big West Championship Most Valuable Player last year in leading a senior-heavy Gauchos lineup to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade. Wilcox returns as UCSB’s featured attacker with 726 total attempts. Xia is next with 361 attempts and was close to unstoppable with 21 kills in 38 swings in UCSB’s five-set loss to UH on April 9. Sophomore Patrick Paragas was the understudy to All-America setter Casey McGarry last year and led the Gauchos to .297 hitting with 10.01 assists per set.
4. UC San Diego (13-10, 5-5)
>> Coach: Kevin Ring
>> National ranking: No. 9 (AVCA), No. 9 (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 18
>> Leaders: OH Kyle McCauley (4.09 kps, 0.51 aces per set); MB Shane Benetz (.421, 1.07 bps); L Matt Palma (2.42 dps).
>> Outlook: UCSD stunned Hawaii in last year’s semifinals and remains dangerous as the only Big West team to post wins over both Long Beach State and UH this season. McCauley is a three-time All-Big West first-team pick and has posted at least 11 kills in all but two matches this season, going for at least 20 six times. OH Ryan Ka (2.72 kps) can also carry the Tritons’ attack at times. Palma ranks second in the conference in digs.
5. UC Irvine (10-15, 3-7)
>> Coach: David Kniffin
>> National ranking: No. 14 (AVCA), NR (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 24
>> Leaders: OH Francesco Sani (4.11 kps, .273); OPP Hilir Henno (3.41 kps, 0.53 aces per set); MB Connor Campbell (.375, 1.08 bps).
>> Outlook: Sani took a league-high 796 swings and led the conference with 382 total kills in the regular season. His kill average ranks second in the Big West. Henno joined Sani on the All-Big West first team and fired six aces in a five-set win over Long Beach State to open the conference schedule. He picked up all three BWC weekly awards (offensive, defensive, freshman) this season and is second on the team with 1.76 digs per set.
6. Cal State Northridge (6-15, 1-9)
>> Coach: Jeff Campbell
>> National ranking: RV (AVCA), NR (Off the Block)
>> NCAA RPI: 31
>> Leaders: MB Daniel Wetter (2.82 kps, .460, 0.80 bps); OH Kyle Hobus (3.47 kps, .301); OH Griffin Walters (2.00 kps, 0.41 aces per set).
>> Outlook: An explosive leaper at the net, the 6-foot-5 Wetter caught fire over the last four matches of the regular season. The two-time All-Big West pick put away 55 kills with three errors in 83 attacks, hitting .627 in series against UC Irvine and Long Beach State. Hobus, another first-team selection, had 44 kills while hitting .341 in last week’s series at LBSU and the Matadors had a match point in the opener before falling in the fifth set.
— Compiled by Jason Kaneshiro
