HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i beach volleyball team released its 2021 schedule with the fifth-ranked Rainbow Wahine slated to start the season on March 22. Led by first-year head coach Angelica Ljungqvist, this year's squad will embark on a schedule that features nearly two dozen regular-season dual matches, including five home dates at the Clarence T.C. Ching Courts.

"Through all the circumstances and the challenges that COVID presents, we're very happy and grateful to begin our season soon," Ljungqvist said. "Our ladies and our staff have been working extremely hard to get ready and we can't wait to get started with competition." 
  
UH opens its season March 22-23 on the road in Davis, Calif. The BeachBows will play host UC Davis on a back-to-back days as well as Pac-12 squads Stanford and Cal. UH will remain on the road that week for The Challenge, a round-robin tournament hosted by Cal Poly which includes six Big West squads.
 
UH's first home events will come on April 2 and 3 when the team faces league rival Long Beach State for a trio of dual matches. Cal Poly arrives in Honolulu the next weekend for dual matches and a pairs tournament, April 9-11.
 
UH then closes the regular-season in Seattle where they will face Portland as well as Pac-12 squads Washington, Oregon, and Arizona in a series of matches, April 16-18.
 
Hawai'i seeks its fourth league title when it competes at the Big West Championships, April 30-May 1 in Long Beach, Calif.  The NCAA Tournament takes place May 7-9, once again in Gulf Shores, Ala. UH is one of only five teams nationally to make an appearance in every NCAA Tournament.
 
The BeachBows were 7-2 overall and ranked fourth nationally during last year's COVID-abbreviated 2020 season. UH came in at  No. 5 in the AVCA preseason poll released earlier this year.