Hawaii athletics on the verge of its best Big West year yet

May 20—Amid a national championship celebration, University of Hawaii athletic director David Matlin took a moment to address the department's potentially historic run of success at the conference level.

A spring surge positioned UH to post its highest finish in the Big West Commissioner's Cup standings—a points race among the league's 11 schools measuring performance in conference competition over the academic year.

UH placed third in the standings upon re-joining the Big West in 2013, but has finished no higher than sixth since. Conference titles for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball, basketball and golf teams and runner-up performances in four other sports pushed the school into second place through last week's events and into contention for the overall title.

"Obviously this is one of our best athletic years and academic years as well, " Matlin said during Tuesday's celebration of UH's second straight men's volleyball national championship. "Very proud that the depth of our programs is really showing."

Big West Commissioner's Cup points are awarded based on regular-season standings in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's tennis and men's and women's volleyball. As such, UH's Big West tournament titles in women's basketball and men's volleyball do not impact the point totals.

Conference championship events do account for points awarded in beach volleyball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's tennis, men's and women's track and field and women's water polo.

The point totals are divided by the number of sports sponsored by each school to come up with the average that determines their standing. The point allotments vary according to the number of schools participating in a sport.

With only the baseball standings yet to be determined, UH ranks second in the Commissioner's Cup ranking with an average of 135 points among 14 sports—still within striking distance of leader Long Beach State's average of 140.7 among 15 sports. Cal State Fullerton is third at 130.8.

The baseball'Bows enter this week's series at UC San Diego in third place at 15-9 with six Big West games remaining. If they can catch Cal Poly (17-7 ) for second place and sixth-place Long Beach State (12-12 ) drops at least one notch, UH would overtake the Beach in the Commissioner's Cup chase.

UH also led Big West schools in the Learfield Director's Cup standings—which measures performance in NCAA championships—through the winter season and will get a boost with the men's volleyball title this spring.

"There are a lot of metrics we look at. The Commissioner's Cup is obviously something we wanted to improve and we did, " Matlin said. "And then there's just the fact that our student-athletes average over 3.0 (grade-point averages ), and just the way they represent in the community.

"We want to win, we want to win with integrity, and I'm very proud of the whole staff and the support we get from the university and state."

The Rainbow Wahine volleyball team delivered a Big West title in the fall and the women's basketball team's championships highlighted the winter season.

This spring, the Wahine golf team tied Cal Poly for its first Big West title and earned first-place points although the Mustangs won a playoff for the NCAA Tournament bid. The track and field team posted the highest finish in program history in finishing second at the conference meet last weekend in Davis, Calif., capped by a victory in the 4 ×400 relay. Long Beach State won the women's title to move ahead in the Commissioner's Cup race.

UH water polo, beach volleyball and men's volleyball also had second-place finishes this spring, while women's tennis and softball came in third.

Big West Commissioner's Cup Standings Through May 16 Pl. School Points Sports Average 1. Long Beach State 2, 110 15 140.7 2. Hawaii 1, 890 14 135.0 3. Cal State Fullerton 1, 700 13 130.8 4. Cal Poly 1, 890 15 126.0 5. UC Irvine 1, 860 15 124.0 6. UC Santa Barbara 1, 810 15 120.7 7. UC Davis 1, 650 16 103.1 8. UC San Diego 680 8 85.0 9. UC Riverside 1, 060 14 75.7 10. Cal State Northridge 890 16 55.6 11. Cal State Bakersfield 610 11 55.5