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Live Stats: Hawaii | USC | Concordia Irvine
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NEWARK, NJ--Following a week after opening the 2019 season at No. 14 Purdue Fort Wayne and Ball State, the NJIT men's volleyball team will take part in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Warrior Classic hosted by Hawaii at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Highlanders (0-2) will open the classic on Thursday, January 10, taking on host No. 4 Hawaii (2-0) at 7pm (HT) | 12am (ET).  NJIT continues play on Friday at 4pm (HT) | 9pm (ET) against USC (1-0) and rounds out play on Saturday at 5:30pm (HT) | 10:30pm (ET) against Concordia Irvine (0-3).

Scouting the Highlanders
The Highlanders opened the 2019 season with two games in the state of Indiana, competing against No. 14 Purdue Fort Wayne and played five-set thriller against Ball State.

Last season, NJIT went 9-17 and finished tied for fifth in the EIVA. NJIT's top returner is the reigning EIVA Newcomer of the Year Alvaro Gimeno and all-EIVA Second Team member Piotr Namiotko.

The Highlanders were selected to finished fourth in the EIVA Preseason Coaches' Poll with 47 points, behind Princeton (56), Penn State (53) and defending regular-season champion George Mason (51).

Joining the Highlanders for one season is graduate student transfer Enrique de Diego Garcia, who played three seasons (2015, 2016, 2017) for California Baptist University, earning AVCA Division I-II All-American honorable mention in 2016, becoming the second player to earn the recognition.

Scouting Hawaii
The Rainbow Warriors are ranked No. 4 heading into the Classic, following two sweeps over British Columbia in preseason exhibitions.

Hawaii finished second in the inaugural Big West season, being the only team to defeat No. 1 Long Beach State and return four All-Americans.

The Rainbow Warriors won the inaugural Rainbow Warrior Classic last year, defeating Stevens, Juniata, and USC without dropping a set. Setter Joe Worsley was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Hawaii is 2-0 vs. NJIT after sweeping a two-match series in Honolulu in 2009.

Scouting USC
The Trojans opened the 2019 campaign with a 3-1 exhibition victory over the University of Alberta.

USC returns four starters and a libero from a team that went 8-20 in 2018, including AVCA all-American Jack Wyett and all-MPSF Freshman team members Sam Lewis and Cole Paxon.

The Trojans are 2-0 vs. NJIT, with wins in 2006 and 2009.

Scouting Concordia Irvine
Concordia Irvine opened the 2019 season against at the UCSB ASICS Invitational, facing three ranked teams -- No. 11 CSUN, defending national champion Long Beach State and No. 10 UC Santa Barbara.

The Eagles, which began the season ranked 12^th (January 1), returns three All-MPSF selections Raymond Barsemian, Chandler Gibb and Hunter Howell.

Barsemian is one of 26 players named to the 2019 watch list for the Karch Kiraly Award which is presented by Off The Block to the best outside attacker in Div I-II men's volleyball during the regular season.

Gibb is in the running for the Lloy Ball Award which honors the nation's top setter and Howell is also on the 2019 watch list for the Ryan Millar Award which goes to the nation's best middle attacker at the end of the year.

This will be the first meeting between Concordia and NJIT.