UH men's volleyball ranked No. 5 in first poll

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i is ranked No. 5 in the first USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll of the season.

Fifteen NCAA head coaches are panelists, including UH coach Mike Wilton.

"At this stage, who knows what kind of an indication the poll is," said Wilton, who gave the Warriors a fifth-place vote. "Polls start getting meaningful after about a month. By early February, they should be pretty indicative."

The Warriors lost in four games to Loyola-Chicago in last week's season opener, then rebounded to win in three games in the rematch the following night.

"Coming out of the blocks and stumbling didn't help at all," Wilton said.

Penn State is ranked No. 1, followed by UCLA, Stanford and Pepperdine.

Penn State, UCLA and No. 11 Lewis are competing in the UH-hosted Outrigger Hotels Invitational beginning Thursday night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

Penn State's home court is the site of this year's NCAA final four tournament. UH and Penn State split a two-match exhibition series in November at University Park, Pa.