This is the new face of NCAA men’s college volleyball. The inaugural Texaco Rainbow Warrior Classic is about diversity, strength of schedule and growth of the game.

While this week’s season-opening tournament isn’t the high-profile, sexy one that has been the tradition of the Outrigger Invitational — that event has moved to March — it checks all the boxes for a sport looking to expand the national footprint. The field includes host Hawaii, former conference rival USC and two solid programs from NCAA Division III in Juniata and Stevens Institute of Technology.

It is the ideal way to begin the new year, said third-year USC coach Jeff Nygaard. The Trojans are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their third NCAA championship and their third-year coach is eyeing the competition in the Stan Sheriff Center as a springboard into the future for his young team.

“Our team will get a wonderful opportunity to compete and galvanize,” he said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. “With a younger roster (five starters lost, 12 players graduated), we get the perfect on-boarding time with how we need to take care of ourselves, approach matches with game plans.

“I get to try different matchups, develop a good number of players who have all worked harder than I’ve seen in my time at USC, and give this team the space to take ownership of the culture we are working towards.”

USC was picked to finish fifth in the revamped Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, behind Brigham Young, UCLA, Pepperdine and Stanford, and ahead of newcomers Grand Canyon and Concordia. Five of the former MPSF members have joined to create the Big West — Hawaii, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara — while adding affiliate member UC San Diego.

It will be different, to put it mildly, for coaches, players and longtime fans.

“Where there will always be reactions to change, planned or otherwise, at the core of everything is still the great game of volleyball,” said Nygaard, a four-year All-American at UCLA and AVCA player of the year in 1995. “The growth for the game in the U.S. is good, in any and every form. The Big West gets its own AQ (automatic qualifier) into the NCAA, there is a lot more flexibility in the schedule for cross-town, out of conference matches, etc.

“Thank you to (Hawaii coach) Charlie (Wade) and UH for hosting this great event. Hawaii has always been one of the best forums for playing volleyball with its passionate and knowledgeable fans who have a true appreciation for good volleyball.”

TEXACO RAINBOW WARRIOR CLASSIC CAPS

No. 5 Hawaii (27-6, 14-4 MPSF)

The Warriors are coming off a semifinal finish at last May’s NCAA championship tournament, where they were swept by eventual national champion Ohio State on the Buckeyes’ home court.

Hawaii returns three starters from the squad that finished third in its final season in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors upset co-champion Brigham Young in the conference tournament semifinals before losing 3-1 to host and top-seeded Long Beach State in the final.

Among the 11 letter-winners back are All-American Stijn van Tilburg and second-teamer Larry Tuileta. Both players may be used in different positions this season, with junior van Tilburg moving from opposite to left-side hitter and Tuileta, a senior, from libero to the outside.

Junior Joe Worsley will take over setting duties for graduated All-American Jennings Franciskovic, and Worsley’s young brother, freshman Gage, is expected to be the starting libero. MPSF all-freshman selections Patrick Gasman in the middle and Rado Parapunov at opposite give Hawaii a solid core that should challenge Long Beach State in the inaugural Big West season.

No. 12 USC (14-14, 8-10 MPSF)

The Trojans opened Tuesday night at home with a four-set win over Princeton. USC doubled its win-total from the 7-19 2016 campaign, tying for sixth in the MPSF, and losing in the first round of the MPSF tournament. After dropping seven of their first nine, the Trojans won eight of their last 10, including an upset over The Beach, just one of four losses for the 49ers.

USC will feel the loss of second-team All-American Lucas Yoder, a three-year starting outside hitter who led the country in kills (4.85 kps) and points (5.22 pps). Also gone is middle Andy Benesh, a four-year starter who was sixth nationally in hitting percentage (.429).

The Trojans return 12 letter-winners, including five starters, but have just two seniors on the roster. Back is 6-foot-6 senior setter Gert Lisha, second nationally in ’17 in assists (10.84), and a solid all-around player from Albania who was second statistically for USC in digs, blocks and aces as a junior. Also back with starting experience are 6-6 junior middle Connor Inlow; 6-2 junior Gianluca Grasso, whose parents both played for the Brazilian national teams; and 6-8 sophomore opposite Lucas Lossone, whose mother, Cica Baccelli, was an All-America outside hitter for USC (1991-92).

Juniata (22-11, 11-3 CVC)

The Eagles were swept out of the NCAA Division III national tournament with a quarterfinal loss to Wentworth. First-year head coach Glenn DeHaven was named the Continental Volleyball Conference Coach of the Year as Juniata won the CVC tournament title as the No. 2 seed and had a nine-match winning streak.

The Eagles will miss graduated second-team All-America middle Kyle Seeley (.509, 56 blocks) but return All-CVC hitter Quinn Peterson (164 kills, 23 aces, 38 blocks, 4.5 points per set). Other starters back are seniors Chris Heron, a libero who averaged 2.36 digs, and middle Mahlon Bender (1.76 kills, 0.77 blocks); and sophomore setter Michael Young (9.63 assists).

Stevens Institute of Technology (31-6, United Volleyball conf.)

The Ducks finished third nationally after being eliminated by top seed Springfield College in last April’s NCAA D-III championship tournament semifinals 3-0.

Returning for Stevens is outside hitter Gabe Shankweiler, playing as a graduate student, who notched his 1,000th career kill against Southern Virginia last April. He led the team with 61 aces and 181 digs.

Also back are sophomore opposite David Lehman and junior hitter Dylan DeBoer. Lehman, a second-team All-American, led the Ducks in kills (361, 3.31 kills) with 19 matches in double-digit kills, while hitter DeBoer was third on the team in kills (296) with a solid all-around game (57 blocks, 22 aces, 168 digs).

Saturday’s match between Stevens and Juniata will be a rematch of the 2016 season opener in the Golden Dome Invitational, where the Ducks swept the Eagles in Newark, N.J. Stevens was one of five Division III men’s volleyball teams to receive the AVCA Team Academic Award for maintaining at least a 3.3 cumulative team GPA during the school year, the third consecutive season for the program. Stevens had 10 players named to the UVC’s all-academic team.