The University of Hawaii is the favorite to advance from the first two rounds of this weekend’s postseason volleyball tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center, but an even better bet is that UH and the NCAA will be winners at the box office.

By the 7:30 p.m. first serve against Idaho State on Friday, both UH and the NCAA should be well on their way to meeting projections on the two-day venture, officials said.

UH’s proposal to the NCAA projected gross ticket revenue of $166,300. As of late Wednesday, UH said it had sold 5,784 two-day ticket packages. Individual session tickets go on sale Friday.

At that pace, "We should be sitting pretty well," athletic director Ben Jay said.

UH’s projected expenses as host, $49,675, come out of the ticket revenue. The NCAA underwrites the travel of the three mainland teams, Arizona State, Brigham Young and Idaho State.

In addition, UH can receive an honorarium of up to approximately 15 percent of the proceeds, depending on the level of profit, associate athletic director Carl Clapp said.

In 2011, the last time first- and second-round matches were played here, the school received $18,533 for hosting. It received an additional $33,565 for hosting a regional that year.

"We don’t make a fortune, but we do keep our team from having to travel and we get to give our fans some more great matches," Clapp said.

Under terms of the agreement with the NCAA, UH keeps parking and concession revenue while the NCAA gets merchandise sales, the school said.

The NCAA took a combined check of $295,630 back to its Indianapolis headquarters in 2011.

The figures represented the highest returns of any school that hosted that year. Attendance at UH, 16,478, nearly doubled that of Nebraska, the next closest of the 16 first- and second-round sites. Attendance at the UH regional, 19,746, nearly tripled that of Florida, the second-best, according to the NCAA.

Jay said, "as long as our expenses and the NCAA’s are met and we make a little (profit), our goals are met. But, first and foremost this is about making sure our (team) gets to play in front of our fans."