Hawaii volleyball: Rainbow Warriors No. 1 in preseason poll; NCAA first-round results

Hawaii fans took to Long Beach State's Pyramid for the NCAA championship game in the spring. / Photo by Cindy Luis

Congrats to Hawaii men’s volleyball, the No. 1 in the AVCA preseason poll today.

Brothers Gage and Joe Worsley in their last start together for the Warriors at the NCAA final last May. / Photo by Cindy Luis

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The Hawaii men’s volleyball team was at No. 1 in today’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II preseason poll, a first for the program.

The Rainbow Warriors (28-3 in 2019) finished second nationally, losing to Long Beach State in the NCAA final. Hawaii received 14 of the 16 first-place votes.

UCLA (19-9, 1 first-place vote) was at No. 2 followed by BYU (13-12) and Long Beach State (28-2, 1 vote).

The Warriors return four starters from last year’s team that won its first Big West title and set a national record for consecutive sets-won with 74. Back are first-team All-Americans Rado Parapunov, a senior opposite and junior libero Gage Worsley, second-team All-American senior middle Patrick Gasman, and senior hitter Colten Cowell who was named to the NCAA all-tournament team along with Parapunov last May.

Hawaii opens the season with Charleston Jan. 3-4 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The AVCA’s first preseason poll was in 2007. Hawaii was ranked No. 1 in the first poll of the regular season in 1989, 1996 and 2003.

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For live stats links for all women’s NCAA tournament matches, click here.

Today’s matches (Seedings in parenthesis) Times are HST
At Florida
UCF def. Florida State, 3-2
10 Florida def. Alabama State, 3-0
At Texas A&M
Rice def. Oklahoma, 3-0
Texas A&M def. St. John’s 3-0
At Texas
UCSB def. Texas State, 3-1
2 Texas def. Albany, 3-0
At Bowling Green, Kentucky
Louisville def. Samford, 3-0
15 Western Kentucky def. Kennesaw State, 3-0
ICYMI
In the NIVC, Big West went 0-2 at The Pyramid Wednesday
Santa Clara def. Long Beach State, 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 16-14
Tulsa def. UC Davis, 20-25, 25-13, 26-24, 25-20
Over/under on attendance for today’s Tulsa vs. Santa Clara at the Pyramid?
I’ll go with under 60

COMMENTS

  1. Maverick December 5, 2019 8:16 am

    From the previous thread, I named my bonus question in Cindy’s honor because of the numerous times she (and a lot of us) have mentioned Penn St. getting an easy subregional. I started to wonder when, if at all, Penn St. lost in a subregional. Ironic how, since that 2002 loss, Penn St. has won 16 (perhaps 17 this year) straight and Temple has failed to reach 17 straight tournaments.


  2. Optimist December 5, 2019 8:21 am

    I’ll go over.🙂😄


  3. H-Man December 5, 2019 8:37 am

    No sense worrying about Penn St. “c’est la vie.”


  4. Sheila December 5, 2019 8:45 am

    Long Beach exhibited typical BigWest team behavior…getting stunned against bigger non-conference team. By the time, adjustments were made, already down 0-2. Their coaching staff should have developed adjustments (strategies/change ups) few days before this game started…Very likely, wahine has to play pre-season opponents (…San Diego, Missouri, UCLA, Baylor) again before finals.


  5. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 8:48 am

    1. thanks for clarifications. just wanted full disclosure that I had nothing to do with all the hard work you put into it.


  6. Robin December 5, 2019 8:50 am

    Sobering fact :
    Since UH last NCAA championship in 1987, outside of Long Beach State (20 years ago- 1989, 1993, & 1998), the NCAA championship trophy has been limited to 4 teams from the Pac-12, Penn State, Nebraska, & Texas.


  7. Robin December 5, 2019 8:53 am

    In the last 20 years, the trophy has been won 15 times by either Stanford, Penn State, & Nebraska.


  8. Maverick December 5, 2019 8:54 am

    Big West and MSPF dominate this year’s pre-season poll with five teams each. BW with #1, 4, 5, 8, 13 and MSPF with #2, 3, 7, 9, 12. And what Einstein picked LBSU #1?


  9. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 9:07 am

    6. there is a correlation between before the RPI came into use and after.
    The odds are stacked against the so-called mid-majors who usually get 1 bid while the “powers” get 6-8.not good odds.
    8. probably Knipe.


  10. blunite December 5, 2019 9:16 am

    There is a trend of mainland schools recruiting local talent and then turning them into liberos. Apparently, the thinking is that a good athlete will be good at any position. Moreover, local girls have high volleyball iQ, (developed over time) which is often missing from players with only a few years experience.

    The problem is that a talented player is often not equally good at all positions. For the sake of expedience, these schools take the risk.

    For Hawaii, finding a good libero should be easier, but nothing works better than hard work (spending hours reviewing the body of work of players.) Coaches who simply recruit all state players often get run of the mill results.


  11. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 9:17 am

    4. VERY unlikely that they play all of them beginning with San Diego
    That happens only IF USD beats Washington State
    For Wahine to play Missouri it would be in the third round and, assuming Tigers get to second round, they would have to beat Nebraska
    For Wahine to play UCLA, would be in regional final which means the Bruins got out of the Wisconsin subregional with an upset of the Badgers and then beat whoever comes out of the Texas A&M subregional
    IF all of that happened, Hawaii’s the highest remaining seed and would be hosting next week.
    Only way Hawaii sees Baylor is in the national semifinal if both teams make it that far.


  12. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 9:20 am

    10. if you are including Tama Miyashiro in your analysis … She wanted to set. UH wanted her to be a libero. She wanted to set and in talks with UW coach McLaughlin finally convinced her that her future was at libero. She walked on there, trained under their libero and rest is history.


  13. Maverick December 5, 2019 9:55 am

    9. re Knipe, lol lol…unless you are serious (ugh)

    Also, funny you should mention the bids, because I did research on that too, but didn’t include in my quiz. From 2009-2019, the P5 has averaged nearly 14 seeds and 29 bids per tournament. Three times has the P5 gotten 15 seeds, and in 2013, received 33 bids. The Pac12 had 10 bids in 2014 while the Big10 had 6 seeds in 2016, both highs. The Pac12/Big10 has averaged 8 seeds and 15 bids over the past 11 tournaments. Since 2012 (when UH joined), the BW has had 3 seeds and 15 bids, total!

    As far as non-P5 success, the WCC got 6 bids in 2012 and 5 in 2018. Since 2009, only once has a non-P5 conference gotten two seeds, the BigEast in 2018: Creighton #9, Marquette #14.


  14. Maverick December 5, 2019 10:05 am

    13. correction, since 20012, the BW has gotten 2 seeds ( both UH) and 15 bids total


  15. eMpTy December 5, 2019 10:56 am

    14 from yesterday. What schedule are you talking about looking at to find out if Spectrum is televising the game tomorrow? I looked all over the place and couldn’t find anything.


  16. wahinefan87 December 5, 2019 10:58 am

    BigWest.TV will be streaming both first round matches for those outside of Hawaii:

    https://bigwest.org/watch/default.aspx?Live=2496&path=conf

    Look under “Upcoming Events”


  17. wahinefan87 December 5, 2019 11:02 am

    15. This is the link to the schedule:

    https://oc16.tv/schedule/

    Click on Friday December 06

    Game On is at 6:30PM
    UH vs. NCU is at 7:00PM
    Post-Game Show is at 9:00PM


  18. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 12:04 pm

    13. who else would vote for them?
    16. Not sure what time zone the Big West is using for USD-WSU. if it’s PT, then it should be 2:30 p.m. not noon. Match at 4:30 HST
    430 UH-UNC would mean it’s Game On (6:30 HST)


  19. Shar December 5, 2019 12:33 pm

    Cindy,
    How close are we to selling out. All of a sudden, all of the sections in the lower bowl opened up. Only one section in upper level is sold out.


  20. eMpTy December 5, 2019 12:34 pm

    17. Wahinefan87 – Thanks for the info and the link. It is appreciated.


  21. H-Man December 5, 2019 12:37 pm

    Penn St has lost in a subregioihal. Had to look it up, but I recall the Wahine beat Penn St. They did in the 1st round, 2015 NCAA subregional in Des Moines, Iowa. Wahine swept them 3-0 behind kill leaders, Nikki Taylor (18 kills), Tai Manu-Olevao (14 kills), Olivia Magill (9 kills) and Kalei Greeley (8 kills). UH out-hit the Nittany Lions .389 to .228; 54 kills to 42 by Penn St.

    Unfortunately they lost to Minnesota 1-3 in the second round. In that match, the Golden Gophers out blocked the Wahine 22-8 and out hit the Wahine .403 to .210.


  22. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 12:37 pm

    19. don’t know. they won’t give out numbers until after end of today
    saw that there were single tickets available lower bowl
    May be that the visiting teams turned back some of their allotment.
    BTW, 1420-AM is doing the play-by-play for the USD-WSU match
    synched with video for the stream


  23. Maverick December 5, 2019 12:42 pm

    21. You are mistaken. That was the regional.


  24. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 12:43 pm

    21. you have your seasons confused
    in 2015, Hawaii defeated Penn State in the third round in Des Moines Then lost to Minnesota in the fourth. Can you say Daly Santana? Block difference was 12-4
    Wahine’s first two rounds were at Texas A&M. they beat TCU then the Aggies.
    in 2016, Hawaii defeated USC in the first round, lost to Minnesota in the second round in Minneapolis
    Believe 2015 was the last year that there were neutral sites bid out for the regionals
    Remember telling Shoji that if they only had the top seeds hosting regionals, Hawaii would likely never host one again.


  25. diamonds808 December 5, 2019 1:47 pm

    I agree with you cindy – only Knipe would vote for LBSU! lol. Our Warriors looked good during their West Coast swing, hopefully the #1 ranking will remain in May!

    Good luck to our Rainbow Wahine this weekend and beyond!

    LET’S GO BOWS!


  26. eMpTy December 5, 2019 2:17 pm

    Rice won 3-0
    UCF won 3-2
    UCSB up 2-1
    Louisville up 2-0


  27. Big Island Volleyball Fan December 5, 2019 2:21 pm

    How can we watch the first match between San Diego and Washington State? Who will broadcast it?


  28. Maverick December 5, 2019 2:38 pm

    27. Here is the link.
    https://bigwest.org/watch/default.aspx?Live=2510&path=hawaii

    Hope you can access it. Hasn’t appeared on the espn3/watchespn site yet


  29. Maverick December 5, 2019 2:41 pm

    UCSB beats Texas State 3-1. Great news for the Big West!


  30. menehune December 5, 2019 2:42 pm

    UCSB over Texas State, 3-1.


  31. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 2:59 pm

    updating scores in main box. Scroll up there
    wouldn’t trust the Big West links yet
    NCAA.com will have links as will Hawaii’s Tournament Central
    first match BigWest.tv Stream will use 5 cameras and Wahine’s normal radio guy Tiff Well will do the broadcast. 1420-AM/92.7-FM Hawaii matches only


  32. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 3:10 pm

    Link for scores
    https://www.ncaa.com/scoreboard/volleyball-women/d1
    At Florida
    UCF def. Florida State, 3-2
    Alabama State vs (10) Florida .
    At Texas A&M
    Rice def. Oklahoma, 3-0
    St. John’s vs (13) Texas A&M
    At Texas
    UCSB def. Texas State, 3-1
    Albany vs (2) Texas
    At Bowling Green, Kentucky
    Louisville def. Samford, 3-0
    Kennesaw State vs (15) Western Kentucky


  33. Optimist December 5, 2019 7:21 pm

    32. I won the over, attendance 86🙂😄


  34. Kahuna December 5, 2019 7:47 pm

    #32…..this should exhibit “A” on why UH should never ever accept an invite into this tournament. You have to pay out of your own pocket and if fans are not going to attend, you just wasted valuable money on a event that leads to nowhere.

    Even if you win the tournament, what the reward at the end?? Nothing to be honest. When you have a tournament with a team with a 9-17 record(TCU) and another with 12-16(LBSU), you kind of playing in a joke of a tournament.

    A storied program like UH should never stoop this low. Kind of embarrassing that LBSU accepted it and lost in the first round AT HOME.

    Kind of sad that LBSU was so desperate.


  35. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 9:34 pm

    33. i lost. I said under 60.Might have included both teams.
    It wasn’t meant to be a joke but it has turned into one.
    which is likely why it died the first time.
    Don’t know if you’d say desperate. A good chance to develop players for next year in a postseason setting. They had been playing well at the end (except for Hawaii)


  36. Cindy Luis December 5, 2019 11:14 pm

    https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=52303
    new thread up with friday schedule


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