JAMM AQUINO / April 26 Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade led the Rainbow Warriors to 27 wins and the Big West Conference championship last season.
JAMM AQUINO / April 26 Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade led the Rainbow Warriors to 27 wins and the Big West Conference championship last season.
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According to the AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Preseason Survey released today, Hawaii’s men’s volleyball team will begin the 2026 season in 10 days ranked No. 2 in the nation.
The Rainbow Warriors went 27-6 last season and won the Big West championship, but lost in the NCAA tournament semifinals. They received seven of 25 first-place votes, eight points behind No. 1 UCLA, and ended Hawaii’s season with a three-set sweep in Columbus, Ohio, in May.
Defending national champion Long Beach State received five first-place votes and entered the season ranked third, ahead of Pepperdine and fifth-place USC, which received the final first-place vote.
Other Big West teams in the top 20 include No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 10 UC San Diego, No. 11 Cal State Northridge and No. 17 UC Santa Barbara.
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UH’s non-conference schedule includes home games against No. 7 Loyola Chicago on Jan. 6 and 8 and road games against No. 9 Stanford and No. 13 Penn State.
Hawaii also hosts the No. 4 Waves and will face No. 12 Lewis and the No. 1 Bruins in the Outrigger Invitational.
The four-team NIL tournament is currently scheduled for February 19-20 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and will feature four of the top five teams in the voting.
Hawaii lost starters Kurt Nustler and Elevu Tsai from last season, but returns its top-four leader in kills as well as junior setter Treed Rosenthal.
Rosenthal was named to the All-Big West Conference first team along with returning sophomores Adrian Rhule and Christian Titriski.
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UH’s season opener will be against NJIT on Friday, January 2, 2026 at Bankoh Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7 p.m.
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