HONOLULU — Top-ranked Long Beach State will bring a considerable challenge to bear for the No. 4 Hawaii men’s volleyball team at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center this weekend.

The Beach is also drawing the crowds.

UH announced Wednesday afternoon that Friday’s matchup between the Big West co-leaders at the 10,300-seat arena has sold out; Saturday’s rematch sold out last month.

“I think everybody knows they're important matches,” coach Charlie Wade said. “Two of the best teams playing each other; seems like, whenever we play, there's something at stake. So, (it) just kind of goes with the territory. And think everybody's been looking forward to it for a long time and excited to get out and compete.”

It is senior week for the Rainbow Warriors. Libero ‘Eleu Choy, middles Kurt Nusterer and Zachary Johnson, and hitters Clay Wieter and Kawai Hong will be traditionally honored following Saturday’s match.

Per the school, they are UH’s first back-to-back sellouts in men’s volleyball since 1996, the sport’s second year in what was then called the Special Events Arena, when Yuval Katz mania took hold under then-coach Mike Wilton.

They are the first back-to-back sellouts for any UH arena sport since men’s basketball’s Dynamic Duo era of Anthony Carter and Alika Smith in 1998.

Wade (314-127 record in 16 years) can match Wilton's program record of 316 victories this weekend. But he is 11-18 against LBSU coach Alan Knipe, and the Beach has taken eight of 12 regular-season matchups since the Big West began sponsoring men’s volleyball in 2018.

Asked about the anticipated atmosphere, Wade noted the weekend would push the program above a 7,000 tickets-issued average for the season. He said he was not concerned about how his young lineup, which includes three true freshmen, would respond to such a setting.

“I mean, I think it’s better than playing in front of nobody,” he quipped.

“When you start looking around the country, and not (just) men's volleyball, but in men's basketball, and the number of high-level name programs that are not averaging what we are in volleyball … it's really humbling,” Wade added. “I think our guys have learned to feed off of it.

“In the first night in Northridge, like warm-ups, it is weird when you can hear everything everyone is saying in the building. It's a different vibe. And I think they embrace this kind of environment a lot more.”

UH (22-3) and LBSU (23-1) are tied at 5-1 in Big West matches. The Beach dropped one to UC Irvine on March 28 and UH is coming off a two-match split at CSUN last weekend.

There remains uncertainty on the status of freshman opposite Kristian Titriyski, the Rainbow Warriors’ kills leader who turned his right ankle landing under the net late in Saturday’s sweep of the Matadors.

“It's day to day,” Wade said. “The X-rays were negative, so nothing broken, and so he kind of tweaked it, and we'll see how it goes going forward.”

Freshmen Kainoa Wade and Finn Kearney are candidates to start for Titriyski if he can’t play.

“If Kristian’s ready to go, great, if not we got other guys who can play,” Wade said.

UH will debut new black-and-green tapa jerseys on Saturday.

The two days mark the 14^th and 15^th men’s volleyball sellouts in the Sheriff.

There was a 21-season period without a men’s volleyball sellout from 1998 through 2018. But since 2019, when UH began a run of four straight appearances in the national championship match and two NCAA titles, there have been seven sellouts.

More are possible this season; UH is hosting the Big West championships for the fifth time from April 24-26.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.