The third-ranked Rainbows (3-1) begin a three-matches-in-five-days conference survival test tomorrow at No. 7 Long Beach State (4-0). Thursday's match is at No. 8 Pepperdine (2-2) while Saturday's opponent is No. 6 Brigham Young (2-0) in Provo, Utah.
"This is a very tough road trip for us," said Hawaii's Aaron Wilton, who put down a career high 31 kills in the 15-11, 13-15, 16-14, 15-5 loss to the Bruins. "Long Beach, Pepperdine and BYU are legitimate Top 8 teams. And BYU especially is underrated.
"I think this will be a good experience for us, to have some adversity on the road. It's a chance to grow and get better. We're not playing the final four in Hawaii so it will be good to get some road games under our belts."
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule maker was not kind to Hawaii. The majority of the Rainbows' tougher opponents - including No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA - will not be playing in the Special Events Arena, where Hawaii is 34-4 since 1995.
UCLA notched its third win over the Rainbows here in Honolulu Saturday in the finale of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational. Bruin senior hitter Paul Nihipali dominated the match with 33 kills, 10 digs and 8 blocks en route to the Most Valuable Player award.
Also named to the all-tournament team were Curt Vaughan, Wilton and Jason Ring (26 kills) from Hawaii; Penn State's Ivan Contreras and Jason Kepner; and Francis Morin of Laval.
Tomorrow: Hawaii at Long Beach State, 5:30 p.m.