The Big West has become the Big Dog already in its inaugural men’s volleyball season. And it will be a dogfight over the next two months as the six teams jockey for position in April’s conference tournament, the winner of which gets an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

The power has shifted somewhat with the split of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation as three of the top five ranked teams now call the Big West home: No. 1 Long Beach State, No. 3 Hawaii and No. 5 UC Irvine. No. 2 UCLA is atop the injury-plagued MPSF that has seen No. 6 Brigham Young already lose twice at home, including being swept by UC Santa Barbara.

Both conferences have postseason tournaments, the difference being that all six teams will qualify instead of the top eight that did for the MPSF last season. All will be playing for seeding as well as with hope.

“I think it’s a good thing, for the sport, for the athletes, for the coaches, that everyone will get that postseason experience,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “You’re going to get a chance to play meaningful matches at the end of the season. You’re not eliminated after a certain date because everyone is in.

“You have to wonder if this had happened earlier if it would have saved Cal Baptist, UOP, even LMU (from dropping the programs). The ones that dropped were the ones at the bottom, not the ones at the top. Would something like this have saved them because they were playing in the postseason, were relevant?”

That question will never be answered but the Big West — the first NCAA conference to sponsor men’s volleyball — is relevant this season. It is important enough that BWC commissioner Dennis Farrell will be in the Stan Sheriff Center for Friday’s match between the Rainbow Warriors and the Anteaters.

To commemorate the event, Wade had a friend build a crate that will become a perpetual trophy which goes to the winner of the Hawaii-UC Irvine series. The loser has to fill “The Crate” with local fruit — California oranges if the Anteaters fall, Hawaii pineapples if the Warriors do.

The Big West is51-19 in nonconference matches including Wednesday’s four-set win by No. 1 Long Beach State over No. 2 UCLA. No. 3 Hawaii split its matches with the Bruins and swept then-No. 12 USC and then-No. 13 Grand Canyon. UCI has significant victories over seven ranked opponents, including two over BYU. No. 13 UCSB swept BYU in Provo.

While UC San Diego, the only Division II squad in the conference, likely will continue its struggles, No. 11 Cal State Northridge could be the sleeper this season. That according to UCI assistant Mark Presho (1990-93), a former Hawaii All-American.

“Northridge is off to a slow start with injuries but they’ll be really good by the end of the year,” said Presho, who coached the UH alumni team last Sunday in a 2-1 loss to the varsity. “The Big West is a real strong conference top to bottom with what I think are four of the top six teams in the country.

“I see the top tier as being Long Beach, which is the best in the country; Hawaii, who is as good as anyone; and then UCLA. The notch below is us, we’re pretty good; then Northridge, Ohio State, Lewis and Loyola. Northridge is scary and, when it comes to the (BWC) tournament, anyone could get hot.”

Long Beach State will host the inaugural Big West tournament April 19-21 (Hawaii hosts next season). The top two teams get a bye into the semifinals.

NOTE: Sunday’s match is “Pink Night” in support of beast cancer awareness. Sponsor Hawaii Pacific Health will distribute pink hats to the first 300 fans wearing pink.

BIG WEST CAPSULES

No. 1 Long Beach State (14-0)

The 49ers are off to their best start since opening 16-0 in 1992. The Beach, the only undefeated team in the country, is coming off two four-set wins over No. 2 UCLA , on Wednesday in Westwood and Saturday which drew a Walter Pyramid-record crowd of 4,560.

All-American junior hitter TJ DeFalco picked up his third career AVCA national player of the week honor after his performance against the Bruins.

He had season highs in kills (17), digs (12) and blocks (five) in recording his 11th career double-double.

No. 3 Hawaii (8-1)

The Rainbow Warriors are in the midst of a 12-match homestand and bring a 13-match home conference winning streak into Friday’s match with the Anteaters. UH has won the last four meetings with UCI, snapping an 11-match skid in 2016.

The Warriors have hit .400 or better in five of their matches, ranking them No. 2 nationally at .362. They also are No. 2 in kills (13.33 kps) and assists (12.43), as well as No. 4 in aces (56 total, 1.87 aps).

Making Hawaii hard to scout is its versatile lineup where 15 players have seen the court. Leading the way offensively is junior All-American Stijn van Tilburg (3.89 kps), who has moved from opposite to outside hitter, and sophomore opposite Rado Parapunov, No. 12 nationally in kills (3.62 kps) and No. 8 in points (4.45 pps) when combining kills, aces and blocks.

UH, the home attendance leader last season, again leads the country this year (3,534).

No. 5 UC Irvine (10-3)

The Anteaters have dropped their last two, both at home in four, to UCLA on Feb. 3 and No. 12 Pepperdine on Feb. 14. UCI is led by sophomore middle Scott Stadick, No. 1 nationally in blocks (1.39), who has had 10 matches with at least five blocks, and is No. 10 in hitting percentage (.407).

The Anteaters also feature hitter Joel Schneidmiller, who has won four of the seven freshman of the week conference honors and the Jan. 30 national award.

No. 11 Cal State Northridge (7-4)

The Matadors opened with five straight wins before falling to MPSF newcomer Concordia in four on Jan. 19. Since then CSUN has dropped another three, all on the road in four to ranked teams Lewis, Loyola and UCLA, before sweeping a young Stanford team on Feb. 10.

Junior hitter Arvis Greene is second nationally in kills (4.54 kps) and tied for fourth with UH’s Brett Rosenmeier in aces (0.57 aps).

UC San Diego (8-6)

The Tritons opened 7-2 only to lose four straight, ending their skid last Saturday at Lindenwood. Officially, UCSD opens the Big West’s inaugural season when traveling to UC Santa Barbara Friday, a match that begins two hours before the UH-UCI contest.

The Tritons, fourth nationally in digs (10.13), are led by senior hitter Tanner Syftestad, who ranks No. 1 in the country in kills (5.04 kps). He has seven 20-plus kill matches, including a Big West single-match high of 27 on three occasions.

No. 13 UC Santa Barbara (4-5)

The Gauchos’ first home match since Jan. 6 resulted in a five-set loss to No. 10 Pepperdine on Wednesday.

They were 2-3 on the road, with big wins at Pepperdine on Jan. 20 and at No. 6 BYU on Feb. 2.

Junior hitter Corey Chavers is No. 13 in the country in kills (3.52 kps) and sophomore libero Grady Yould 18th in digs (2.31 dps).