The defending NCAA champions will descend upon a place dubbed the Volleyball Capital of the Midwest.
Hawai’i as part of announcing Thursday its 2022 schedule revealed it will play a two-match non-conference road series against Ball State on Jan. 29-30.
This will be the first time in their series history that the Rainbow Warriors will play a road match versus the Cardinals. Hawai’i leads the all-time series 12-3 and has won the two most meetings in 2017 and 2019.
Hawai’i ended last season sweeping BYU in the NCAA Tournament finals to win its first national championship in 19 years.
Despite losing multiple All-Americans starters from its championship team, the Rainbow Warriors return Jakob Thelle who was a finalist for the 2021 Lloy Ball Award as the nation’s top setter. The team also adds All-MPSF middle attacker Kyler Presho after he transferred from Stanford in the offseason.
Ball State enters the season under new head coach Donan Cruz. Cruz was the four-time NAIA National Coach of the Year and guided Grand View to two NAIA national championships.
The Cardinals return multiple starters from their team that reached the 2021 MIVA Tournament semifinals, including All-MIVA outside attacker Kaleb Jenness and All-MIVA setter Quinn Isaacson.
This series will be two of the Rainbow Warriors’ six matches against MIVA teams during the upcoming season. The team will open its season at home with two matches against Loyola and then will play a two-match home series versus Lewis in March.
2022 Hawai’i regular season schedule
Jan. 5 vs. Loyola
Jan. 7 vs. Loyola
Jan. 14 vs. Edward Waters
Jan. 16 vs. Edward Waters
Jan. 29 at Ball State
Jan. 30 at Ball State
Feb. 4 vs. Kentucky State (at Austin, Texas)
Feb. 4 vs. Queens (at Austin, Texas)
Feb. 5 vs. Stanford (at Austin, Texas)
Feb. 8 vs. Long Island
Feb. 9 vs. Long Island
Feb. 11 vs. Long Island
Feb. 18 vs. Lincoln Memorial
Feb. 19 vs. Lincoln Memorial
Feb. 20 vs. Lincoln Memorial
March 2 at UC San Diego
March 4 at UC San Diego
March 10 vs. Lewis
March 12 vs. Lewis
March 25 vs. CSUN
March 26 vs. CSUN
April 1 at Long Beach State
April 2 at Long Beach State
April 8 vs. UC Santa Barbara
April 9 vs. UC Santa Barbara
April 15 at UC Irvine
April 16 at UC Irvine