Beach Schedule Hunt 2016

Photo Credit: Hawaii Athletics

The Rainbow Wahine Beach Volleyball team are coming off their run to the first NCAA Tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Now they will attempt to get back there for the postseason in a quest for their first National Championship. In order to get back to Alabama, they will have to go through tough 2017 opponents and a competitive Big West conference.

The 2017 roster has been posted listing remaining beach only players from last years roster including four seniors, two juniors, and two sophomores. Also listed are the seven freshman and one junior transfer. Returners crossing over from the indoor to the beach team are Clare-Marie Anderson, Casey Castillo, Gianna Guinasso, Emily Maglio, and Nikki Taylor. New players from the indoor team crossing over are Norene Iosia, Savanah Kahakai, Kirsten Smith, and Emma Smith while Tayler Higgins will return after playing beach her freshman season. However, All-American Taylor's decision to play beach is unsure due to her possibilities of playing overseas and resting her body after the indoor season.

Now the schedule hunt for the beach team has started as schools are releasing their 2016-17 schedules.

This post will be updated with the release of other schools schedules (Check my twitter for updates)

2017 Schedule

• March 3-4 - Grand Canyon Tournament (Teams: Grand Canyon, Colorado Mesa, LMU)
• March 3-4 - Arizona Invitational (Teams: Arizona, Arizona State, Jacksonville)
• March 10-11 - Hawaii Invitational (Teams: Loyola Marymount, Stetson)
• March 17-18 - Hawaii Tournament (Teams: Arizona, Utah, USC)
• March 26 - Stanford Tournament (Teams: Stanford, Irvine Valley)
• March 29 (1:00 PM PT) - at Pepperdine
• April 1-2 - Big West Challenge (Teams: Cal Poly, CSUN, Long Beach State, Sacramento State)
• April 7 (TBA) - vs Pepperdine, Cal Poly
• April 8 (TBA) - vs Pepperdine, Cal Poly
• April 13-14 - Outrigger Aloha Invitational (Teams: Florida Atlantic, Grand Canyon, Long Beach State, USC)
• May 5-7 (TBA) - NCAA Tournament - Gulf Shores, Alabama

Warrior Schedule Hunt 2016

Photo Credit: Hawaii Athletics

Official Release | 2017 Schedule

Men's volleyball season is coming up soon and schedules of other schools around the country are being posted. So that means parts of the University of Hawaii schedule are being revealed. Hawaii is in its last season with the MPSF as they will enter the Big West for men's volleyball in 2017-18. Based on the schedules posted by other schools, this season all teams from the MPSF will play twice against all but two teams making for 20 conference games for the year. Hawaii will host one tournament, a home two-game non-conference series, and will play its first non-conference road trip since 1996. First time opponents for the Warriors will be Barton College (Erskine), Lindenwood, McKendree and Princeton. The last time Ball State was in the Outrigger Resorts Invitational was in 2011 where they swept UH.

This post will be updated with the arrival of more schedules (Check out my twitter for more updates)

Edit: The official 2017 schedule has been released and there were a few additions along with a change to the opening tournament. Listed on other schools schedules, Barton College was named one of the teams in the Outrigger Invitational. As of now they have been replaced with Conference Carolina team, Erskine. Also noted is that the MPSF has limited the schedule to 18 conference games which means Hawaii will play all but four teams twice (USC, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Cal Baptist). The second match of the Hawaii-USC series will count towards their non-conference record. Hawaii has also added another two-match series with rising program Grand View. They open the fall season with preseason home games against UC Irvine and Sport Conx. The second game against UCLA will be aired on Pac-12 Networks.

2017 Schedule

Preseason

• October 28 (7:00 PM HT) vs UC Irvine
• November 16 (7:00 PM HT) vs SportConx

Week 1 - Outrigger Resorts Invitational

• January 5 (7:00 PM HT) vs Erskine
• January 6 (7:00 PM HT) vs Princeton
• January 7 (7:00 PM HT) vs Ball State

Week 2

• January 11 (7:00 PM HT) vs Grand Canyon
• January 13 (7:00 PM HT) vs Grand Canyon

Week 3

• January 18 (TBA) @ Long Beach State*
• January 20 (TBA) @ Long Beach State*
• January 21 (TBA) @ UC Irvine*

Week 4

• January 27 (7:00 PM HT) vs Grand View
• January 29 (5:00 PM HT) vs Grand View

Week 5

• February 3 (7:00 PM HT) vs UCSB*
• February 4 (7:00 PM HT) vs UCSB*

Week 6

• February 10 (7:00 PM PT) at UC San Diego*
• February 11 (7:00 PM PT) at Cal Baptist*

Week 7

• February 14 (7:00 PM ET) at McKendree
• February 15 (7:00 PM ET) at Lindenwood

Week 8

• February 24 (7:00 PM HT) vs Pepperdine*
• February 26 (5:00 PM HT) vs Pepperdine*

Week 9

• March 2 (7:00 PM HT) vs USC*
• March 3 (7:00 PM HT) vs USC

Week 10

• March 10 (7:00 PM HT) vs Stanford*
• March 11 (7:00 PM HT) vs Stanford*

Week 11

• March 17 (TBA) @ BYU*
• March 18 (TBA) @ BYU*

Week 12

• March 24 (7:00 PM HT) vs CSUN*
• March 25 (7:00 PM HT) vs CSUN*

Week 13

• April 6 (TBD) at UCLA*
• April 7 (TBD) at UCLA*

Week 14

• April 15 (TBD) at TBD - MPSF Tournament Quarterfinals

Week 15

• April 20 (TBD) at TBD - MPSF Tournament Semifinals
• April 22 (TBD) at TBD - MPSF Tournament Finals

Week 16

• April 28 (TBD) at TBD - NCAA Tournament Play-In Match

Week 17

• May 4 (TBD) at Columbus, Ohio - NCAA Tournament Semifinals
• May 6 (TBD) at Columbus, Ohio - NCAA Tournament Championships

* MPSF Matches

Schools without Hawaii on their schedule: Charleston, Coker, Concordia-Irvine, George Mason, Harvard, IPFW, King, Lees-McRae, Lewis, Loyola-Chicago, North Greenville, Ohio State, Penn State, Pfeiffer, Quincy, Saint Francis, Springfield

Beach Bows Schedule Hunt

The Wahine Beach volleyball team will soon start its preseason practices next semester, but it is never too early to hunt for their upcoming 2016 Schedule. There are no indication of when an official schedule will be posted as last season it was not posted until time season began. Right now there is a tentative schedule up. As of right now (11/25), these are the schools and tournaments the University of Hawaii will be participating in. For any additional schedule updates, either check back to this post as it will be updated or follow my Twitter for updates.

March 5-6

• Pepperdine Kick Off Tournament
• Location: Malibu, CA
• Featuring: UCLA, USC, Long Beach State, Pepperdine

March 12

• x2 Matches
• Location: Honolulu, HI (TBA)
• Featuring: TCU, Hawaii Pacific

March 15-19

• Queen of the Beach Challenge
• Location: Honolulu, HI (Queen's Beach/Ching Complex)
• Featuring: USC, Nebraska, Loyola Marymount

March 25-26

• Stetson Spring Break Tournament
• Location: DeLand, FL
• Featuring: UCLA, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Stetson, Florida State

April 1-2

• Hawaii Invitational
• Location: Honolulu, HI (Queen's Beach)
• Featuring: UCLA, Arizona State

April 12

• Match
• Location: Honolulu, HI (Ching Complex)
• Featuring: Boise State

April 22-23

• Aloha Invitational
• Location: Honolulu, HI (Queen's Beach)
• Featuring: Long Beach State, USC, Grand Canyon, Florida International, ULM, Washington
• *Televised on CBS Sports Network

April 29-30

• Big West Championships
• Location: Huntington Beach, CA

As of right now there are two USAV hosted tournaments in Chula Vista (March 12-13) and Hermosa Beach (April 9-10) and Hawaii usually participates in one of them. This upcoming season will be the first time being an NCAA Sport along with the beginning of the Big West Beach Volleyball conference. Look for there to be a possible Big West Championships in the ending of April. The NCAA Championships return to Gulf Shores, AL from May 6-8.

This month is also the Pac Rim Championships that is being hosted in Hawaii. This takes place November 26-28 with teams from Hawaii, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Canada, and Japan. Thursday will be the International Competition taking place on the UH campus, Friday will be the duos of the college teams featuring Japan, and Saturday will be 16 Pair tournament with the past duos plus duos from Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. The last day will also have a coaching clinic featuring head coaches of UCLA, USC, and the assistant coach for Hawaii. (Hawaii In Pac Rim Championships)

Edit: Hawaii Athletics has announced the 2016 schedule but is missing a few events from the list above. (Schedule)

2016 Warrior Schedule News & Updates

Updates & Finalization are posted at the bottom of the post

Of course the Wahine volleyball season has not yet started but news of the upcoming 2016 Warrior Volleyball schedules have been coming out. Including a few conference dates and non-conference tournament notes.

First off is the 22nd Outrigger Resorts Invitational that the Warriors continue to host from January 7-9. This year it will feature NCAA Runners-Up Lewis, King, and Harvard. The matches versus King and Harvard will be the first series meeting in the program. Lewis last played Hawaii in the 18th Outrigger Invitational where the Flyers defeated the Warriors in a five set match.

For the MPSF conference matches, two schools have released their tentative 2016 schedules, USC and Long Beach State. As one of two schools, Hawaii has to play two match series against that conference foe either home or away. Then the next season it the location switches to the other venue. This year the Warriors will play at the Galen Center of USC and Long Beach State will come to the Stan Sheriff Center. Last season Hawaii and USC split the series while Hawaii swept Long Beach State.

*Note: USC is a member of the Pac-12 so it is a possibility matches will be streamed or televised with Pac-12 Networks

Fall training for the Warriors will start in October. There are two fall tournaments, one hosted by USC in the end of October and the other hosted by UCLA in the end of November. There are no confirmation whether UH will participate but they have gone to the USC tournament for multiple years.

Check back to this post for further Warrior Scheduling updates coming up.

EDIT: 8/12 - After the schedule releases by other schools, here are the teams Hawaii will not be play: IPFW, Penn State, Ohio State, Concordia-Irvine, Mount Olive, Saint Francis, Princeton, McKendree

EDIT: 9/21 - 9/25 - 10/9 Updated List of matches vs. Hawaii

• January 7 - King
• January 8 - Harvard
• January 9 - Lewis
• January 15 - Pepperdine *
• January 16 - Pepperdine *
• January 21 - Grand Canyon
• January 22 - Grand Canyon
• January 29 - UC San Diego *
• January 31 - UC San Diego *
• February 5 - UCLA *
• February 6 - UCLA
• February 12 - @ Stanford *
• February 13 - @ Stanford *
• February 16 - @ USC *
• February 17 - @ USC *
• February 24 - Long Beach State *
• February 26 - Long Beach State *
• March 4 - BYU *
• March 5 - BYU *
• March 11 - @ CSUN *
• March 12 - @ CSUN *
• March 25 - UC Irvine *
• March 26 - UC Irvine *
• April 1 - @ UC Santa Barbara *
• April 2 - @ UC Santa Barbara *
• April 8 - Cal Baptist *
• April 9 - Cal Baptist *

Missing MPSF schools: Pepperdine

Schedule Finalized (10/6)

Hawaii Release || 2016 Schedule

The 2016 schedule has officially been released. All MPSF matches are set along with the Outrigger Invitational and non-conference matches against Grand Canyon.

OCSports usually does not release the full television schedule but you will most likely see all home matches televised. There are sometimes a few matches that aren't based on the other sports playing at the same time. Most away matches will also most likely be streamed live. The only away match to be televised is the February 16th match against USC which will be on Pac-12 Networks.

Upcoming preseason match will be in SoCal against USC on November 5th. USC and UCLA are also hosting preseason tournaments around the same time.

One Sand Tournament Revealed

The University of Southern California announced its 2014 Sand Volleyball schedule today which included a tournament in Hawaii. On USC's schedule it has Nebraska and Arizona also in Honolulu followed by Pool Play and Bracket Play. These events happen on March 19-March 22.

The University of Arizona is one of nine schools to start a sand volleyball program in the spring of 2014 while Nebraska will be in their second season. USC and Hawaii will enter their third season.

In the Ka Leo article about sand volleyball I posted earlier, the University of Hawaii is going to have a minimum three home tournaments in the new sand volleyball arenas built on the UH campus.

Not sure when Hawaii's schedule will be posted but last season it was posted pretty late. The roster has all the players listed but they did not update the new players.

Catching Up With UH

Wahine News

• Senior outside hitter Emily Hartong named Big West Player of the Week
•  Seventh weekly conference award for her career
• Hawaii moves up to No. 5 in the latest AVCA Poll
• Received four first place votes
• Hawaii ranked No. 3 in first RPI release

Photo from Hawaii Athletics

 Warrior News

• Middlehitter.com posted 2014-15 commitment from Mamane Namahoe (Waiakea, HI)
• Plays with Pilipa'a Volleyball Club with other commit Kama Paio
• Position: Libero
• Hawaii Athletics posted a 2014 Schedule but no release
• Non-Conference Matches:
• Thompson Rivers (Team from Canada)
• Outrigger Hotels Invitational (Penn State, Ohio State, UCLA)
• Home Matches:
• Long Beach State, UC San Diego, BYU, UC Irvine, Cal Baptist, UCLA

Photo from Hawaii Athletics

Sand News

• 2014 Roster Listed (Roster)
• New players
• Karissa Cook (Stanford), London Chow, Emily Carman, Hannah Rooks, Sydney Shinn, Mikayla Tucker, Hannah Zalopany, Kelsi Delgado (Fresno Pacific)
• No indoor players are listed yet
• New sand courts have been added but not finished
• The team is now practicing there 
• KaLeo Sports article mentions that the upcoming season will host at least three tournaments

Photo from UHawaii SandVolleyball Facebook

Warriors Back-to-Back Road Trip

Off the Block announced that the Warriors will once again play four matches in five days in the upcoming season. Last season they played UCLA twice and followed with UC Irvine twice. The Warriors came out 1-3 after that road trip. This season they will play Stanford twice and Pacific twice. An easier match-up compared to last year but every match is difficult when you are on the road.

Every match counts this season for the Warriors because now Cal Baptist can compete for the post season tournament. Hawaii made the tournament with a one win lead over Cal State Northridge but Cal Baptist would have made it they were able to which would have ended Hawaii's chances of making the MPSF tournament.

This upcoming season, the Warriors return five out of their seven starters and gain five new players.

Japanese Team added to Schedule

The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team will now play Toyota Auto Body on Tuesday, September 25th. Shoji mentioned earlier he was trying to get in another team during the season and Toyota Auto Body is the only one that showed up. This match is after they come home from the Wichita State tournament and two days before the opening of their second season in the Big West.

This Japan team may sound familiar because they have been here before. It is a coincidence because I looked back when they last played which was in the 2012 season and it is on the same exact day it will be this year (9/25). The last meeting the Queenseis of Japan defeated the Wahine 3-1. Hope that will not be the same this year. For a full recap of the last meeting you can go here. But last years lost did not really matter to Shoji because he experimented a lot as if it was a spring match and he lot many reserves get playing time.

Also this Toyota Auto Body team is the new team for alumni Kanani Danielson (Ewa Beach, Hawaii). Danielson who was a four time All-American for UH joined this team for their 2012-13 season and did not carry the team until later in the season.

I did see this match up on the schedule a few days ago but I thought it was already announced so I never said anything but thanks to the person on Volley Shots that pointed it out.

2014 Outrigger Invitational Revealed

Photo from Hawaii Athletics

The 2014 Outrigger Invitational tournament for the men's team was announced on the Off the Block blog today. It will be a repeat from last year with Ohio State, Penn State, and UCLA all returning. Last years tournament was filled with very entertaining matches where five out of six matches went to five sets.

Wade said he is trying to schedule matches before the Outrigger Invitational which may include some Canadian colleges. They will be exhibition matches and they are matches to help prepare for the MPSF.

Maybe one of these colleges will be the one where Stephen Maar goes. For those who don't know who Stephen Maar is, Maar was a 6'9" opposite from Aurora, Canada who made a verbal commitment to the University of Hawaii after being told he would be given a whole scholarship. A few weeks before signing, he then decommitted to stay in Canada for college. Everyone thought he would be Hawaii's next Umlauft but that never happened.

For the Outrigger Invitational, for now I predict UCLA winning it again (they won the past three years) with Hawaii in second, Penn State in third, and Ohio State in fourth.

Wichita State Tournament Revealed

Wichita State

Creighton Schedule

Today Creighton revealed their 2013 volleyball schedule. Creighton was the team that was rumored to be in the tournament with Hawaii and Wichita State. That rumor was true. These three teams will be joined by South Dakota.

The tournament schedule should look like this:

• Sept 20: Hawaii vs. Creighton (12pm HT/5pm CT)
• Sept 20: Wichita State vs. South Dakota (2pm HT/7pm CT)
• Sept 21: Creighton vs. South Dakota (12pm HT/5pm CT)
• Sept 21: Hawaii vs. Wichita State (2pm HT/7pm CT)
• Sept 22: Hawaii vs. South Dakota (7am HT/12pm CT)
• Sept 22: Wichita State vs. Creighton (9am HT/2pm CT)

The time for the last game are my guess since the home team is usually the last to play so it would mean Hawaii plays before them. Overall this is a pretty good tournament for Hawaii to be in especially with two very tough teams.

*EDIT*
Hawaii updated their schedule but it is different from Creighton's schedule.

• Sept 20: Hawaii vs. South Dakota (3pm HT/8pm CT)
• Sept 21: Hawaii vs. Creighton (12pm HT/5pm CT)
• Sept 22: Hawaii vs. Wichita State (2:30pm HT/7:30pm CT)

Catching Up

It has been a while since I posted something so here is some things Hawaii volleyball fans have learned over the past few months!

Wahine Volleyball

• 2013 Schedule was officially released (May 15, 2013)
• Dave Shoji officially announces that Jane Croson will not return to the team
• Three new 2014-15 recruits
• Savannah Kahakai (5'8" Libero from Honolulu, HI)-Farrington HS
• Gianna Guinasso (5'9" Libero from Huntington Beach, CA)
• Emily Maglio (6'2" Middle from Coquitlam, Canada)

Warrior Volleyball

• JP Marks will not return to the team since he signed a pro contract
• Vote Sinisa "Siki" Zarkovic for Off the Block Fan Player of the Year!
• Vote Brook Sedore for Off the Block Fan Player of the Year!
• 2013-14 recruit Jennings Franciskovic named AVCA First Team Boy's High School Senior All-American
• Three new 2014-15 recruits
• Larry "Tui" Tuileta (6'3" Outside from Honolulu, HI)-Punahou HS
• Luke Owens (6'7" Middle from Kailua, HI)-Kalaheo HS
• Kama Paio (UNK Libero from Kamuela, HI)-Hawaii Prep

Sand Volleyball

• Failed to make AVCA Nationals
• Four new 2013-14 recruits
• London Chow (5'6" from Palm Springs, CA)
• Kelsi Delgado (5'10" from Carlsbad, CA)
• Mikayla Tucker (5'9" from Placerville, CA) Transfer from Fresno Pacific
• Karissa Cook (5'11" from Santa Cruz, CA) Transfer from Stanford
• Two new 2014-15 recruits
• Kendra Koelsch (6'1 from Huntington Beach, CA)
• Gianna Guinasso (5'9" from Huntington Beach, CA)
• Will play both indoors and sand

Puzzle Piece #1 is Found

Wahine News

With the release of the schedule from the Texas Longhorns, it also releases the opening tournament for the Rainbow Wahine. The poster on Volleytalk mentions that the tournament will open on Friday August 30th with UTEP and San Diego playing first at 5 PM (H.S.T.) followed by Hawaii and Texas at 7 PM. The next matches will be Texas vs. UTEP and Hawaii vs. San Diego. Lastly is Texas vs. San Diego and Hawaii vs. UTEP.

Everyone will be looking forward to be playing the defending National Championships on opening night but everyone will also be confused with the scheduling of UTEP. I say that because we are all concerned of the RPI which will affect the seedings in the NCAA Tournament. UTEP is ranked 150th in the RPI, San Diego is 29th and Texas is 2nd.

Left to see who is in the other tournaments is Northwestern, New Mexico State, UCLA, and Arizona.