Hawaii is in and it will be heading to a familiar place for the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament: Seattle.
The Rainbow Wahine (20-7) will take on Illinois (21-10) in a first-round match on Friday at the University of Washington. The Huskies (24-7) are seeded No. 8 and face LIU Brooklyn (20-9).
It is the 54th consecutive year that Hawaii has made the NCAA tournament field. The Wahine have only missed the postseason once, in 1992 when finishing 15-12 and the field was 32.
The Big West runner-up Rainbow Wahine earned an at-large bid after finishing the season with five consecutive victories, the last four by three-set sweeps. It is UH’s 36th overall NCAA appearance and first for coach first-year coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos.
Hawaii also was sent to UW for the opening rounds in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The Wahine lost to the host Huskies in the second rounds all three years.
Friday’s match is at 3 p.m. HST. Should the Wahine advance, Saturday’s second round is at 5 p.m. HST.
Hawaii’s inclusion in the field of 64 gives senior libero Savanah Kahakai a shot at moving up to at least No. 2 on the program’s all-time dig list.
The first Farrington Governor to play for Hawaii began her final year outside of the top 10 (1,001) but continued to move up weekly, passing Wahine all-time greats along the way.
All but one were All-America honorees, including then-No. 3 Tita Ahuna (1,384) on Nov. 9.
Kahakai, with double-digit digs in 22 of 27 matches this year, is at 1,403 digs. She needs 14 to pass Elizabeth Ka’aihue (1,416) for No. 2.