Josh Taylor always knew he wanted to go to the mainland for college.

That doesn’t make this weekend’s matches against Hawaii any less special.

The Pepperdine freshman, who leads the Waves in kills just four games into his collegiate career, will welcome the 12th-ranked Warriors to Firestone Fieldhouse for matches Friday and Saturday in Malibu, Calif.

Taylor, who graduated last summer from Punahou, is primed to be a four-year starter for the Waves. His 4.88 kills per game is tops on a team that is 3-1 and ranked seventh in the country after wins last weekend against Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State.

"The first couple of weeks have been real good for us," said Taylor, the 2010 Star-Advertiser state player of the year. "I’m real stoked to play Hawaii out here this weekend because I know a bunch of guys on their team that I hang out with a lot when I’m home."

Part of Taylor’s immediate success at Pepperdine is simply being able to play the sport he loves.

After leading Punahou to state titles in 2009 and ’10, Taylor had to sit out his senior year due to eligibility issues. He repeated his freshman year at Punahou in order to get into school and was forced to redshirt his final year.

"It was crazy, man," Taylor said.

Taylor couldn’t do a thing to help the Buffanblu, who saw their two-year run as state champions end with a loss to Kamehameha in the state final.

The entire year wasn’t lost for volleyball, however, as Taylor put down 45 kills in the FIVB Men’s Junior World Championships, helping the United States finish in fourth place in the tournament held in Brazil.

He made the team, along with former Punahou teammates Taylor Crabb (Long Beach State) and Henry Cassiday (Southern California) and former Kamehameha setter Micah Christenson, who is now a freshman at USC.

"It was insane, playing against the best 12 guys from every country," Taylor said. "You get to play against some of the greatest players in the world.

"It gave me a lot of confidence going into college."

Taylor almost followed Christenson to USC, narrowing his college choice down to either the Trojans or the Waves.

In the end, his relationship with Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy and the chance to win a national championship won out.

"It came down to coach Marv and a really good recruiting class that was coming in here," he said. "I was really stoked with all the guys on the team as well."

The Waves also had an ace in the hole in Ryan Leung, a sophomore on the team who went to Hawaii Baptist.

"My best friend Ryan was here," he said. "We’ve known each other for about five years, played club together, played against each other when he was at HBA, and I was looking forward to playing with him in college."

Pepperdine opened the season ranked No. 9, splitting matches against 13th-ranked Lewis, which beat Hawaii last weekend in five. The Waves jumped two spots in the recent poll after wins against the Matadors and 49ers.

It’s the beginning of what Taylor hopes is a special season at Pepperdine. Nothing short of a national championship would be satisfying.

"It’s a pretty insane goal if you think about it, but if you’re not going to go for it, then there’s no point in going at all," he said. "We want to a win national championship.

"That’s what this team wants to do and that’s what I want to do."