Hawaii knows trips to Cal State Northridge can go wrong quickly

Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade doesn’t have to think too far back to the last time a trip to Northridge, Calif., derailed a season.

It was 2018 when the Rainbow Warriors followed the Outrigger Invitational with a trip to California in which it lost twice in three sets to a Matadors team ranked 10th in the country.

It was the first two wins for Cal State Northridge in Big West play. Hawaii went on to win five of its final six conference matches to finish second in the Big West.

It made the final of the BWC tournament before losing to Long Beach State and was passed over for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Seven years later, the fifth-ranked Rainbow Warriors return to the Matadome sitting in first place in the conference at 4-0 with a 21-2 record overall.

CSUN (15-7, 0-4) has yet to win a conference match this season, but is ranked No. 9 in the latest AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll.

With the highly anticipated regular-season home finale matches next week against No. 1 Long Beach State ahead, Wade is well aware of how tricky this week’s series could be.

“I’m reminded that in 2018 we had a really good team and a road trip to Northridge is the one that tripped us up,” Wade said Tuesday before the team left Wednesday morning. “We lost there and got left out of the NCAA Tournament. We’re very mindful of going in there and playing our best.”

Only two players on the UH roster have played at Cal State Northridge before.

Sophomore Louis Sakanoko, the reigning Big West Offensive Player of the Week, is one of five starters who will experience the Matadome, now referred to as Premier America Credit Union Arena, for the first time.

“Just excited. That’s the first time I go to CSUN, so I will discover the gym,” Sakanoko said Tuesday. “I think we have a good dynamic right now. We just win twice in a pretty good way.”

Both teams dropped a spot in the national rankings this week despite UH winning twice and the Matadors losing two matches to UC Santa Barbara.

Hawaii dropped behind No. 4 UC Irvine despite owning two sweeps over the five-loss Anteaters from earlier this season.

With UCSD rising a spot after losing twice to UH, five of the six Big West teams are now ranked in the Top 10.

“I think we’re a really strong team, so we don’t need to focus on what (CSUN) is going to do,” Sakanoko said. “We already showing this season when we play great, it’s hard to beat us.”

Sakanoko has settled in to his starting role outside, hitting more than .400 with at least nine kills in four of his past five matches.

Hawaii ranks in the top six nationally in five major statistical categories, including second in kills per set (13.62) and assists per set (12.71).

Hawaii adds setter

UH announced the signing of Magnus Hettervik, a 6-foot-6 setter from Stavenger, Norway, to its 2026 recruiting class on Thursday.

Hettervik played with the Norway U19 men’s national team that participated in the 2022 European Championship. They took silver in the 2023 NEVZA Championship and qualified for the 2024 European Championship.

He currently plays for the same club team that former Hawaii All-American Jakob Thelle played for.

“Magnus is an impressive young man and polished player,” Wade said in a press release. “He follows a great lineage of Norwegian players who have each highly recommended their next countryman to join our program.”

UH’s only other signee to its 2026 class is Roman Payne, a 7-foot middle blocker from Carlsbad High School.

Senior night sold out

The senior night game against No. 1 Long Beach State on April 12 is already sold out, UH announced Wednesday.

It’s the 14th all-time sellout for men’s volleyball at the Stan Sheriff Center and the sixth since 2019.