It’s “March Madness” every night in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball with the potential of an upset served up each contest.

This March is no crazier than previous ones but, with this being the last season of the MPSF as the current 12 teams know it, the urgency to clinch a playoff berth as early as possible seems greater than in the past. However, with four weeks remaining in the regular season, only No. 2 Long Beach State is guaranteed one of the eight berths available for next month’s conference tournament.

Just where the 49ers (17-2, 13-1) end up seeded might not be decided until April 8, the final night of the regular season. There is sure to be some shuffling — or perhaps not — through then with eyes especially focused on Provo, Utah, where Hawaii (18-2, 8-2) visits No. 3 BYU (15-2, 9-1) for two matches next week and The Beach has a pair at Smith Fieldhouse the following week.

Mathematically, the streaking Rainbow Warriors could finish anywhere between No. 1 and outside the top eight qualifiers. Some of that angst could be dissipated either Friday or Saturday with a victory over No. 8 Stanford (11-7, 6-5).

It’s “win and in” for Hawaii, which hasn’t dropped a set since Feb. 4. The Warriors have won 26 consecutive sets, with eight straight sweeps and 17 home wins in a row dating back to last season.

All that is on the line against the Cardinal, who are coming off a sweep of Penn State last Saturday in State College, Pa. Stanford hit a season-high .444 against the Nittany Lions with senior hitter and team captain Gabriel Vega (‘Iolani) putting down 10 kills and junior libero Evan Enriques (Kamehameha-Hawaii) with six digs.

The Cardinal have 6-7 junior hitter Clay Jones back. He was injured in the season opener but has played the past three matches, putting down 12 kills Saturday against Penn State.

Stanford, on the road for its last six matches, is fine with extending that with Nos. 7 and 8 in Hawaii.

“Every 18- (to) 22-year-old who plays men’s volleyball circles the Hawaii trip on their calendar,” Stanford coach John Kosty said. “Motivating a team to play in Hawaii is not an issue. But with back-to-back long road trips, we have been very cautious on making sure our guys are getting enough rest and no over-training.

“Hawaii has a very veteran team and is playing really consistently. We are going to start with the basics and try to win the serve-and-pass game. Hawaii has a lot of weapons so we have to be disciplined in how we play the match.”

Hawaii continues to lead the country in blocking (2.70 bps), with a season-high 14 coming in last Friday’s sweep of USC. The Warriors will be tested by Stanford’s 7-foot junior middle Kevin Rakestraw (1.02 bps).

“He is one of the better blockers in the country and we have to do a good job on him,” said Warriors assistant Joshua Walker, in charge of the scouting report. “They run a lot of things through the middle and we need to be dialed in on slowing that down, and then be able to defend the pins (outside hitters) one-on-one.

“Stanford has had some good nights and have had some bad nights. They’re at the peak part of the season where they could be one of the better teams or they could end up struggling to make the playoffs.”

Stanford is bunched in the middle tier of the MPSF with four other teams that have five to seven losses. While Hawaii looks to have separated from that group with two losses, “if we somehow get off track, we could still miss out on the playoffs,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “There’s a lot of shuffling (in the standings) that could take place.

“Our goal is much higher than just getting in. Every guy in our practice gym knows they have stuff they can improve on. The focus is to keep working and improving, take the opponents as they come.”