Match Notes

The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team will look to snap its current four-match losing streak when it travels to Provo, Utah for a two-match Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series with 10th-ranked Brigham Young, Thursday, Jan. 22 and Friday, Jan. 23. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m. MST (4:00 p.m. HT) at Smith Fieldhouse.

The Warriors (1-4, 0-2 MPSF) dropped their MPSF season-opening series with Pepperdine last week in Honolulu. The third-ranked Waves defeated UH in four sets both times. Sophomore Brennon Dyer led UH on night one with 14 kills off the bench while freshman Steven Hunt had a career-high 24 kills in the rematch.

The Cougars (2-3, 0-0 MPSF) will open MPSF play this week after splitting a pair of matches at home last week. BYU dropped a five-setter to Cal Baptist but rebounded with a four-set win over Lewis over the weekend.

BYU will be Hawai'i's fifth Top 10 opponent this season. UH's only win this year was against then-10th-ranked Ohio State in its season-opener. BYU went 1-2 in the UC Santa Barbara/Elephant Bar Collegiate, where they lost both matches on the opening day to Stanford and UC Irvine and defeated Pacific on day two.

Match Notes
What: No. 11 Hawai'i (1-4, 0-2 MPSF) vs. No. 10 Brigham Young (2-3, 0-0 MPSF)
When: Thursday, Jan. 22 and Friday, Jan. 23
Time: 7:00 p.m. MST (4:00 p.m. HT) each night
Where: Smith Fieldhouse; Provo, Utah
Video Streaming: BYU-Television will televise both matches live on the internet at www.byu.tv with Jarom Jordan (play-by-play), Steve Vail (color), and Robbie Bullough (courtside) calling the action.
Radio Coverage: None
Live Stats: Live stats of both matches are available on BYUCougars.com
Series History: BYU leads 25-15. The Cougars have won the last four matches, including four straight in Provo. 

Celebrating 50 Years of Volleyball
The Warriors are celebrating their 50th season of men's volleyball in 2009. The inaugural 1958-59 Rainbows participated as a club team and featured six players and head coach Jerry Bruhn. The men's volleyball program officially began as an intercollegiate sport in 1979 with current UH women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji heading both the men's and women's programs. The men's program has compiled a 496-265 record in 30 varsity seasons and has participated in postseason play 21 times. UH advanced to the NCAA Championship in 1995, '96 and 2002, the latter of which the Warriors captured the national title before it was later vacated. Head coach Mike Wilton has been at the helm of the program for the past 16 seasons and has posted a 307-149 record. He is the program's all-time winningest coach and two-time national coach of the year. He has guided UH to five Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Pacific Division titles, six Top 5 national finishes, and coached 14 All-Americans, including national players of the year Yuval Katz and Costas Theocharidis.

On the Hunt
Freshman Steven Hunt rebounded from his worst outing as a Warrior with a 24-kill effort against Pepperdine on Jan. 16. One night after hitting -.031 (8 kills, 9 errors, 32 attempts) against the same Waves team, Hunt led the team with 24 kills on 49 attempts. He also had two service aces and seven digs. On the year, Hunt is averaging 3.72 kills per set, which ranks second on the team, and is tied for the team lead with three aces.

Sky Walker
Sophomore outside hitter Joshua Walker is leading the Warriors with a 4.13 kill average. Walker had 17 kills in UH's 3-0 season-opening victory over Ohio State, a team-high 15 in a 3-0 loss to USC and 18 in a 3-1 loss to Penn State. Last season, the Virginia Beach, Va., native led the team with 300 kills for a 3.57 per set average.

Young Blood
In addition to true freshmen Steven Hunt and Gus Tuaniga and sophomore Joshua Walker, the Warriors have used freshman Jarrod Lofy and outside hitter Brennon Dyer in the starting lineup this season. Setter Sean Carney is the only senior in the starting lineup along with juniors Matt Rawson, Steven Grgas, and libero Ric Cervantes. 

Back in the Saddle
After substituting as an outside hitter for parts of last season, Sean Carney returned to his natural position - setter - for the start of this season. Carney appeared in four matches as a hitter last season, including the regular season series finale at Pepperdine. The senior has started the team's first five matches at setter this season and is averaging 11.2 assists per set. He also ranks second on the team in blocks with 17 (0.94) and digs with 47 (2.61).

Warriors In the MPSF
Hawai'i holds a 214-107 (.667) all-time record in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation since the 1993 season, all under head coach Mike Wilton. UH posted one perfect season of 19-0 during the 1996 campaign and made 14-straight MPSF playoffs, until ending that streak last season when the Warriors finished below .500 in conference play for the first time under Wilton. 

AVCA Preseason Poll
In the preseason Bison/AVCA Division I-II Poll, the Warriors were picked 13th with 41 votes, the same spot they finished last season. Defending NCAA champion Penn State heads the Top 15 poll with 14 first place votes and 236 points followed by UCLA (219) and Pepperdine (205). Being ranked is nothing new to the Warriors who have graced the Top 15 rankings a total of 350 of a possible 352 times.

Coaches Pick UH Ninth
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's 12 coaches picked the Warriors ninth in the preseason league poll. UH finished last season in ninth with an  8-14 mark, its lowest finish in the MPSF in school history. UCLA and Pepperdine were tied for the top spot with 104 votes followed by Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, USC, Stanford, Brigham Young, Hawai'i, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and Pacific.

Home Sweet Home
The Warriors have called the Stan Sheriff Center home since 1994 and it has provided a dominant home court advantage. UH has led the nation in attendance all 14 years and hold a 179-83 (.683) record including an impressive 107-38 (.738) mark in MPSF play.

On the Rebound
For the first time since 1991-92, the Warriors posted consecutive losing seasons after finishing with a 13-14 mark in 2007 and 11-16 last season. The Warriors also missed the conference tournament for the first time since 1992 after an 8-14 league record. The 10,300-seat arena is also home to the national powerhouse Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.

Olympic Hero
Former Warrior Clay Stanley led the United States men's volleyball team to Olympic gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China. Stanley, a two-time Olympian, was selected as the tournament's Most Valuable Player as well as best scorer and best server. In the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, Stanley was the team's leading scorer and led the U.S.  to a fourth place finish.