The polls and the data say the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team is one of the top teams in the country, but as it prepares to host the Big West Conference Tournament, there's only one way for the Rainbow Warriors to guarantee themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament prior to Selection Sunday.
An automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament is up for grabs at the Stan Sheriff Center this weekend, which goes to the winner of the Big West Tournament. The 'Bows are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face either UC Irvine or Cal State Northridge in Friday's second semifinal at 7 p.m.
The NCAA Tournament will feature nine teams. Hawai‘i is ranked third nationally in both RPI and in the latest AVCA national poll. Despite their status as one of the country's best teams, the Rainbow Warriors are viewing every match they play this week as a must-win.
"We think Friday and Saturday are must-wins," setter Tread Rosenthal said. "We don't want to leave anything to chance, just knowing from past experience. It's a lot better just knowing that you're safe. We're striving for both."
Hawai‘i hosted the 2024 Big West Tournament and advanced to the semifinals before falling to UC Irvine. The Anteaters went on to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, while UH's season came to an end.
UH is hoping to get back a pair of injured pin hitters in freshman Kristian Titriyski and sophomore Louis Sakanoko, who have both missed time due to separate lower body injuries. Titriyski has not played for consecutive weeks, while Sakanoko did not travel with the team in its most recent series at UC Santa Barbara, which the 'Bows (24-5) split with the Gauchos.
"Louis looked a lot better. Kristian was moving around more than he has," Hawai‘i head coach Charlie Wade said following Wednesday's practice. "I think it's still day-to-day, but we'll see. He was was actually jumping and hitting some balls today. So, I don't think it's out of the question. Certainly headed the right direction."
When Hawai‘i hosted No. 1 Long Beach State two weeks ago, the 'Bows took the series finale behind a breakout performance from freshman reserve Finn Kearney, who had 17 kills in Titriyski's place in both matches against The Beach.
"I've always said it ain't depth unless you use it," Wade said of his roster. "Somebody asked me is it hard to make all those in-game adjustments. Not when you got good players, you know? I mean, it's hard when you're looking down the bench and I'm not sure anybody can help you, but we got a lot of good players, so it's nice to see multiple guys get an opportunity and then play well when they get those opportunities. We've got more guys able to contribute."
Long Beach State will be the team on the opposite side of the bracket as the top seed in the tournament, awaiting the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal between UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego.
Although Hawai‘i would need a win on Saturday to guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament, winning on Friday would likely eliminate every other Big West team from at-large consideration, paving the way for UH to punch a ticket to the tournament regardless of how Saturday's final goes.
A win on Friday would also be a milestone victory for Wade, who would surpass Mike Wilton's 316 wins as the program's all-time winningest head coach.
"I really haven't thought much of it," Wade said. "It'd be one thing if I was like, my career is ending, but I'd like to think I get to coach again next year, so I think there's some more wins coming. It just so happens I've been here for a while, and a lot of people have gone into helping the program be successful and help us rack up the number of years we have had while I've been the coach."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
