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No. 5 Hawaii heads to this week’s inaugural Big West Beach Volleyball Championship as the top seed in the six-team event in Huntington Beach, Calif., the conference announced Monday.
The Rainbow Wahine (13-8) have a first-round bye in the double-elimination tournament that begins Friday and will play the winner of the earlier match between Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield at 9 a.m. Second-seeded and seventh-ranked Long Beach State (11-11) also has a first-round bye and will play the winner of the match between Sacramento State and Cal State Northridge.
Play continues through Saturday’s final at 10:30 a.m. If a deciding match is needed, that will be at 12:30 p.m.
Also Monday, Hawaii remained at No. 5 in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Top 10. There was no movement above the SandBows in the poll, with Aloha Invitational champion USC (26-2) remaining at No. 1. Pepperdine (19-3) stayed at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Florida State (29-1) and UCLA (13-8).
Arizona (15-3) traded places with Long Beach State (11-11), the Wildcats moved to No. 6 and the 49ers dropped to No. 7. Georgia State (26-8) and Stetson (28-7) also swapped spots, the Panthers to No. 8 and the Hatters to No. 9.
Appearing in the poll for the first time this season was LSU (18-7) at No. 10.
The inaugural NCAA championship tournament is scheduled for May 6-8 in Gulf Shores, Ala. The eight-team field will be announced Sunday on NCAA.com, with three teams from the west region, three teams from the east region and two at-large teams.