LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 2022 AVCA collegiate beach volleyball preseason poll was released Tuesday with the Rainbow Wahine pegged at No. 10. Defending NCAA champs USC is tabbed as the preseason favorite.
 
UH is coming off an abbreviated 2021 season which saw the team finish 17-10 overall and ranked No. 13 in the final AVCA poll. UH returns more than a dozen players from that team, headlined by first-team all-conference players Brooke Van Sickle, Jaime Santer, Kaylee Glagau, and Ilihia Huddleston.
 
USC, which went 30-4 last year en route to its fourth title,  received 300 points. The 'Bows face USC at the UCLA Invitational on April 2. UCLA, meanwhile, is in at No. 2 with 284 points. Florida State, Loyola Marymount and LSU round out the top five. Fellow Big West squads Cal Poly (8) and Long Beach State (15) are also ranked, while CSU Bakersfield received two votes.

The BeachBows are led by interim head coach Evan Silberstein who begins his first campaign as head coach in Manoa after serving as an assistant the previous seven seasons. UH opens the season at home, hosting No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford and Saint Mary's in the Heineken Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic, Feb. 25-26, at world-famous Queen's Beach.