HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i beach volleyball team rolls into the 2020 season with the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic, Feb. 22 and 23, at Queen's Beach. It will be a powerhouse tournament with four ranked squads – including three of the top five teams in the country—going head-to-head in the opening weekend of the season.
 
Joining the No. 5 Rainbow Wahine are top-ranked and two-time defending national champion UCLA, No. 3 LSU, and No. 19 Stanford. The team's will play a round-robin format on Saturday before being seeded 1-4 for a championship bracket on Sunday.
 
Quick Set
Matches 1-5
What: Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic
Who: No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Hawai'i, No. 19 Stanford
When: February 22-23
Where: Queen's Beach – Waikiki
Admission: Free
Live Scoring: HawaiiAthletics.com
 
Schedule
Saturday, February 22
Hawai'i vs. UCLA..........9:00 a.m.
Stanford vs. LSU..........10:30 a.m.
Hawai'i vs.  Stanford....12:00 p.m.
LSU vs. UCLA...............1:30 p.m.
UCLA vs. Stanford........3:00 p.m.
Hawai'i vs. LSU............4:30 p.m.
 
Sunday, February 23
Semifinal #1.................10:30 a.m.
Semifinal #2.................12:00 p.m.
Consolation..................1:30 p.m.
Final..............................3:00 p.m.
 
All-Time Series Records: UH is 6-8 versus UCLA...the Bruins have won the last five matches and six of the last seven meetings…UCLA has opened the season each of the last two years in Honolulu and UH is 1-3 against them in Honolulu…UH is 2-1 versus LSU…all three previous meetings came on a neutral court…UH is a perfect 6-0 versus Stanford, including 3-0 in Honolulu…like UCLA, this is the third straight season the Cardinal open the season in Hawai'i.
 
Da Squad: UH's roster totals 19 players….the SandBows return seven main cogs from last year's team that won 28 matches and finished fourth in the  NCAAs.…seniors Morgan Martin (2017 All-America 1st Team) and Amy Ozee (2019 All-America honorable mention) headline the returnees…also back are All-Big West players Julia Scoles, Kylin Loker, and Pani Napoleon (BW Freshman of the Year)…UH also welcomes four new recruits, highlighted by Ilihia Huddleston (AVCA high school All-American), younger sister of former 'Bow Hi'ilawe Huddleston, and Maia Hannemann, daughter of former UH men's volleyball player and AVP veteran Al-B Hannemann…six crossovers from UH's nationally-ranked indoor squad are also on the team with returnees Norene Iosia and newcomers Brooke Van Sickle and Jolie Rasmussen expected to contribute…the roster includes players from eight different states (Arizona, California, Florida, Hawai'i, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington), as well as Canada and Sweden.
 
Da Skipper: Jeff Hall enters his sixth season as the head coach…he is the school's all-time winningest coach at 129-36 (.782)…Hall has led UH to three Big West titles, top-four finishes in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons and has been named league Coach of the Year in 2016 and '18.
 
Da Schedule: The Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic is one of three tournaments that UH will host this year, capped in early-April with the Queen's Cup….UH will also make its way to Florida as well as four trips to California… in all, UH will face 12 squads that are in the ACVCA preseason Top 20 and six of the seven teams that joined UH in last season's NCAA Championship.…this year's Big West Tournament will be hosted by UC Davis…the 2020 NCAA Championships will once again be held in Gulf Shores, Ala., May 1-3.