The Hawaii men’s volleyball group stepped off its aircraft, gathered at a gate at Honolulu International Airport and waited for its title to be referred to as on the reside NCAA Selection Show.
When the Rainbow Warriors had been introduced because the No. 2 seed and the host of a three-team regional, the fanfare was minimal.
“I think we all knew we were going to be in it,” setter Tread Rosenthal mentioned to Hawaii media on campus about an hour later. “We’re a top-five team in the nation and we have been all year. So, it was less about being in it and we kind of want to move on from last week and get another game under our belt.”
Some members of the group had been nonetheless “pissed off,” in Rosenthal’s phrases, from their inability to close out the Big West championship match in opposition to rival Long Beach State in Irvine, Calif., on Saturday.
But a uncommon alternative might assist make up for it; this system was assigned its first internet hosting duties for any NCAA men’s volleyball matches since 2004.
UH (27-5) will face the winner of Friday’s 5 p.m. match on the Stan Sheriff Center between USC (19-7) of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Belmont Abbey (20-5) of Conference Carolinas.
The Rainbow Warriors will play at 4 p.m. subsequent Saturday with a spot within the nationwide semifinals at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on the road.
“A big game like this, hopefully (the fans) come 10,000 strong and be really loud for us,” Rosenthal mentioned.
Said hitter Louis Sakanoko, “Playing in the Stan is always so cool and doing it in the quarterfinals of the natty is even better.”
Coach Charlie Wade had rightly predicted his group would nonetheless host a regional after the loss. UH entered the weekend No. 1 in RPI.
Wade mentioned he was “thrilled” and the chance was “historic” within the expanded 12-team format of the postseason event with 4 colleges internet hosting three-team pods. He famous UH has by no means performed an NCAA men’s volleyball match because the host faculty.
“It just seemed like, with all the metrics, there really wasn’t any way that we weren’t going to be in and host, if the committee stayed true to what they had published,” Wade mentioned. “And they did, and I think they did a nice job of kind of splitting it up. It’s not all the West Coast teams kind of cannibalizing themselves.”
Sakanoko mentioned some gamers had been a bit much less sure of what would occur.
“Honestly, the new version of the national championship is a little weird, so we didn’t have an idea,” Sakanoko mentioned. “We’re on a small island, it costs a lot of money for people to come. So we knew we could host. We didn’t know if we will. We’re definitely really happy that we can.”
UCLA was awarded the No. 1 seed, LBSU No. 3 and Ball State No. 4.
UH additionally hosted NCAA men’s championships in 1991 and 1998, however the Rainbow Warriors didn’t attain the title stage in what was then a four-team area. This marks the eleventh time qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for two-time nationwide champion UH.
The ‘Bows will take Monday off and resume apply Tuesday.
“An NCAA postseason (week) has a little more noise to it,” Wade mentioned. “There’s more meetings, there’s more media, there’s more stuff you got to have to pay attention to. But we’re fortunate. We’ve been in this situation a lot. We’ve played in a fair amount of NCAA postseason matches, and I think we’ll come through it pretty focused.”
USC has two native gamers on its roster in Punahou merchandise Kahale Clini and Riley Haine. Senior pin hitter Dillon Klein leads the Trojans with 3.89 kills per set; Sakanoko referred to as him “one of the best outsides in the country.”
Belmont Abbey has two gamers averaging 3.00 kills per set or higher in Caden Day and Zach Puentes.
Regional ticket packages go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday on-line or on the Stan Sheriff Center field workplace. Individual match tickets go up at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Note: This story has been up to date with a photograph, particulars and quotes.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports activities scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He could be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.