UH’s Rosenthal likely ready but middle blockers iffy for key matchup

Instead of dwelling on the past, the second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team is looking ahead.

The Rainbow Warriors can wrap up the No. 1 seed in next week’s Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship with a win Friday in the first of the final two home matches of the regular season, against No. 18 Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m. at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii (24-4, 7-1) holds a one-game lead over Long Beach State and can win the regular season for the third time in school history.

With any win, or any loss by the Beach, Hawaii secures a spot in the first semifinal match next Friday at Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif. The opponent would be the winner between the No. 4 seed and No. 5 seed

“We will address that as we get closer, certainly going into the weekend, but it’s significant,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said Tuesday “We haven’t had a chance to do something like this too often and certainly not going to take it for granted. We want to take care of business.”

Hawaii’s eight-game winning streak ended Saturday at UC San Diego when it lost for the first time on the road this season and the first time in conference play.

Setter Tread Rosenthal did not start due to an illness that kept him out until the end of the third set. UH also played without Justin Todd, who hurt his hand in warmups, and then lost another middle in Trevell Jordan, who hurt his knee in the opening set.

Wade said Rosenthal was fine when he saw him Monday morning. He is hopeful to have Todd and Jordan back against the Matadors (12-12, 0-8).

“(They will have) a couple of days off and then we’ll kind of address it and we’ll kind of duct tape them together, and roll them out there and see how we’re doing,” Wade said.

Despite the loss, Hawaii jumped to No. 1 in both the RPI and KPI rankings this week ahead of UCLA, and remained at No. 2 in the AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll, behind the Bruins.

The NCAA Selection Show on April 26 will reveal five at-large teams joining the seven conference champions to comprise a new 12-team field in the NCAA Tournament.

Four teams will serve as hosts in the regional round of the tournament before the Final Four in Los Angeles at Pauley Pavilion on May 9-11.

CSUN comes into the weekend winless in conference play, but has taken both the Tritons and the Beach to five sets this season.

The Matadors snapped a nine-match skid in Hawaii with a win over UH here in 2024 and split the two regular-season meetings last season in Northridge, Calif.

Junior opposite Jalen Phillips, who recently surpassed 1,000 career kills, is hitting .332 this season and averages close to four kills per set.

He’s 2-2 in his career against Hawaii with 57 total kills and had 16 kills in both three-set matches against the ‘Bows last season, hitting .414 in the win and .357 in the loss.