The No. 5 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team will close out the regular season with a critical two-match Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series at UC Santa Barbara, Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. HT) at Robertson Gym.

The Warriors (17-8, 13-7 MPSF) can clinch homecourt advantage in the first round match of the MPSF Tournament with a sweep. UH is currently tied for fourth in the league standings with the top four teams hosting first round matches. Hawai'i holds tiebreaker advantages over BYU, Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine, and USC.

The Gauchos (12-15, 8-12) need two wins or a loss by UC Irvine to secure a spot into the tournament and have tiebreaker advantages over UCI and Long Beach State for the eighth and final spot. Following the four first round matches on Saturday, April 24, the highest remaining seed hosts the MPSF Championships, April 29 and May 1.

UH had the week off from MPSF play last week and hosted its annual Alumni Match on Saturday. Playing most of their reserves, the varsity lost in five as former Warrior Tony Ching stole the show with a match-high 18 kills as the alums rallied from two sets down.

The Warriors have won six of their last seven MPSF matches while the Gauchos have lost seven of their last nine. The series will mark a showdown between the league's top two kill leaders in UCSB outside hitter Jeff Menzel (5.15 kills per set) and UH opposite Jonas Umlauft (5.07). Menzel, who hits at a .211 clip compared to Umlauft's .273 hitting percentage, ranks sixth in the MPSF with 38 service aces.

UCSB middle blocker Scott Slaughter ranks sixth in the MPSF with a .449 hitting percentage while setter Vince Devany is fourth in assists with a 13.31 per set average.

Who: No. 5 Hawai'i (17-8, 13-7 MPSF) vs. No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (12-15, 8-12 MPSF)

When: Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17

Time: 7:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. HT) both nights

Where: Robertson Gymnasium (4,000); Santa Barbara, Calif.

Television Coverage: None

Video Streaming: None

Radio Coverage: None

Audio Webcast: Live audio webcast available at www.kcsb.org

Live Stats: Available at UCSBGauchos.com

Series Information: UH leads 40-27

Series vs. UC Santa Barbara: UH leads the overall series, 40-27, including a slight 13-12 advantage in matches played in Santa Barbara, Calif. The teams split the series in Honolulu last season. Prior to that, the Gauchos had won seven of the last 10, including sweeps in 2007 and '08.

Up Next: The Warriors will play an MPSF Tournament first round match, Saturday, April 24 at a site to be determined. UH returns to the postseason tournament after missing the past two seasons.