Ready, set, pack.
No. 10 Hawaii, the last of the 334 Division I volleyball teams to play an away match, hit the runway Wednesday night en route to California and two Big West contests.
The Rainbow Wahine (12-1, 2-0) also packed a seven-match win streak as well as an impressive combined 49-0 record against this week’s opponents Cal State Fullerton (0-14, 0-2) and UC Riverside (6-9, 1-1).
"We have shown we can be a good team at home, now we need to show we are a good away team," sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley said. "I think we’ve grown in all aspects of our game.
"Hopefully, we can continue to show that on the road."
All 14 healthy players are traveling and, considering that nine were together for May’s two-week training trip in Europe, few road hazards are anticipated other than the traffic on the 405, 5 and 91 freeways.
"We’re a pretty veteran team and we’ve already been on the ultimate road trip," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said prior to leaving Wednesday. "It’s not going to be anything earth shattering to get on a plane.
"I think we’re ready. We played our best volleyball last week and hope that it all carries over to this week’s matches."
Up first on Friday is Cal State Fullerton, continuing to struggle despite a change in coaches. The Titans are 0-14 after Wednesday night’s 25-17, 26-28, 19-25, 26-24, 15-13 loss at UC Irvine, their worst start since 1994 when opening 0-26.
Still, Shoji is concerned.
"We watched film on them and they look like just another team," he said. "They pass, set, hit and do everything every team does except they haven’t won. That kinds of scares me. They’re not a bad team. They just haven’t been able to turn the corner."
UC Riverside apparently has to point, already winning more matches than in the past two years combined. But the Highlanders couldn’t get past host UC Davis Wednesday when falling 28-26, 26-28, 25-14, 25-21.
Last season’s match against Hawaii at the SRC drew 731, many of whom came to watch Greeley, who played at King High some seven miles away.
"I’ve been anticipating this trip for so long," Greeley said. "I’m so excited to see my family, my brothers, my mom and dad, and our new addition that I haven’t met yet (brother Kekoa is nearly 3 months old).
"I don’t know if there will be as many as last year but it’s always nice that we have so many fans for all our away games. Who else can say that, having more fans than the home team? It’s awesome."
Shoji said he would like to get some of his reserves more playing time.
"It would be nice but we need to take care of winning first," he said. "That is the No. 1 goal."