Anything is possible.

History will attest to that when it comes to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball tournament.

The likelihood of an upset in Saturday’s quarterfinal round may seem remote, but Hawaii remembers all too well what happened in 2006, when play-in winner UCLA unceremoniously ousted the second-seeded Rainbow Warriors from the MPSF tournament in four at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Bruins snapped No.2 Hawaii’s 19-match winning streak, their momentum carrying through to winning the NCAA championship.

Now whether anything is probable is another matter. The odds are stacked heavily in the favor of three of the four host schools: Top-seeded Long Beach State hasn’t lost in the Walter Pyramid this season (13-0), no one ever wants to play at Brigham Young’s Smith Fieldhouse and third-seeded Hawaii has been impressive at home with its 21-match winning skein dating back to last year.

Fourth-seeded UC Irvine hasn’t been invincible at the Bren Events Center (8-3), including a four-set loss to Hawaii on Jan. 21, but get the Anteaters in a five-setter and it’s over. UCI is 8-0 at home when it goes to five, with last Saturday’s marathon win over Pepperdine giving the ’Eaters their eight consecutive win overall, a ride highlighted by a sweep of defending NCAA champion Ohio State in Columbus.

“The four host teams are there for a reason, but I don’t think anyone would be surprised if the road teams won,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said, his team hosting for the second time in three seasons. “I think you go in reverse order as most likely, beginning with 4-5 (UCI hosting UCLA). Anybody could win it all.”

But can the Warriors? Their first test is Saturday against the Waves (10-11), a team that was swept twice by Hawaii in late February, including an ugly Set 3 on the first night where the Warriors led 20-6 before finishing it 25-11.

Pepperdine has tweaked its lineup since its last visit to Honolulu. Returning to the starting setter spot for the past four matches is 6-foot-2 senior Soren Dion-Kindem, replacing 6-4 senior Joshua Stewart, who started both matches against UH.

“Hopefully we are a little better and we better be, because UH looks good,” Waves coach Marv Dunphy said.

The rest of the MPSF coaches recognized that as well on Thursday. Hawaii had seven players honored on All-MPSF teams, the most overall of any team. Leading the way were first-team selections Jennings Franciskovic, a senior setter, and sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg.

Named to the second team were senior middle Hendrik Mol and sophomore libero Larry “Tui” Tuileta, while senior hitter Kupono Fey was an honorable mention. Middle Patrick Gasman and opposite Rado Parapunov were named to the all-freshman team.

Van Tilburg, an honorable mention and all-freshman pick last season, is No. 3 nationally in kills (4.32 kps) and 11th in hitting percentage (.382). Franciskovic, on the second team as a sophomore, is ninth nationally in assist average (10.06 aps).

It was the most MPSF honors for Hawaii since 2006, when the Warriors had two each on the first, second and third teams and one honorable mention.

Top-seeded Long Beach State had six players named, including player of the year TJ DeFalco, a sophomore hitter. Second-seeded Brigham Young and fourth-seeded UC Irvine each had five, with UCI middle Scott Stadick earning freshman of the year.

Pepperdine had sophomore hitter David Wieczorek named to the first team and outside Noah Dyer to the all-freshman team. Wieczorek leads the Waves with 3.89 kills per set, hitting .361.

“I’m sure (Pepperdine) is coming in with a chip on their shoulder — they’re hungry to prove they’re a good team,” Wade said. “They have a lot of good players. They’re a different team than when they were here before.

“We just need to sustain what we did against them, and there’s no reason that we won’t. Our guys have worked hard and prepared well. We’ve been been pretty confident that we’ll show up and play most nights. The question is is it good enough. Some nights the other team plays better.”

Hawaii and Pepperdine have met five times in the MPSF tournament, twice in the quarterfinals, and the Warriors won both at home (1996 and 2010). In 2015, the Waves won the semifinal match hosted by UCI. However, Hawaii was awarded an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament because of a better résumé than Pepperdine.

The Warriors have qualified for the MPSF tournament 19 times since the tournament began in 1993 and have never won the tourney title. Hawaii is 12-19 overall and 9-2 in home quarterfinal matches, the two losses coming to Long Beach State in 2005 and UCLA in 2006.

The Waves have been in the tournament 23 times, with four tourney championships and a 25-18 overall record. Pepperdine’s last title came in 2008, when it was seeded fifth, upsetting UCLA (4), Long Beach State (1) and BYU (2).

Notes

Saturday is a designated “Whiteout Night” — fans are encouraged to wear white shirts. The UH athletic department is sponsoring a canned good drive to support the Hawaii Foodbank on Saturday. Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at Gate A.