Match Notes

HONOLULU – The No. 6 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (28-3) earned the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament's No. 7 seed, and will face the Belmont Bruins in the first round of the tournament on Friday, Dec. 5., at 5 p.m. (3 p.m. HST), at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. No. 11 Southern California will host the first and second rounds, and will face No. 16 San Diego in the other first round matchup, at 7 p.m. (5 p.m. HST) at the Galen Center. The second round match will be at 6 p.m. (4 p.m. HST) on Saturday, Dec. 6.

 

The Rainbow Wahine earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament on Nov. 23. UH is making its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to 27 of the 28 tournaments overall. Belmont (25-7) won the Atlantic Sun Conference and San Diego (23-4) won the West Coast Conference, while Southern California (16-11) earned an at-large bid from the Pac-10.

 

Hawai'i will be playing Belmont for the first time in program history. UH owns a 20-16 edge in the all-time series vs. Southern California, including a five-set win over the Women of Troy in the 2006 NCAA Regional. They have also won both meetings against San Diego.

One other WAC team, New Mexico State, earned a bid to the tournament. They will face St. Mary's in Berkeley, Calif., in the first round. In all, eight teams on UH's schedule advanced to the NCAA Tournament, including top-seeded Penn State, No. 5 Washington, No. 6 Minnesota and No. 14 UCLA.