The No. 3 Stanford men’s volleyball team kicks off its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) season this weekend when it hosts No. 8 Hawaii.

Hawaii is coming off a successful weekend at the Outriggers Hotel Invitational, which it hosted. The Warriors swept No. 10 Ohio State, lost in five sets to No. 5 Penn State and knocked off No. 1 USC in

four sets.

“They’re good. They’re a better team than [their ranking],” said head coach John Kosty. “I think they’re definitely in the top half of this league.”

The team’s strongest player is outside hitter Joshua Walker, who claimed the MPSF Molten Player of the Week after the tournament and was similarly named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Apart from Walker, the Warriors also boast a number of offensive weapons, such as Gus Tuaniga, Steven Hunt and Jonas Umlauft.

“They’re a solid team and it’s going to be a battle,” Kosty said. “Hawaii is not going to be an easy team.”

Against a team like Hawaii, the middle blockers will be the key line of defense — and even with the loss of Brandon Williams, Stanford is definitely up for the challenge.

Returning starter senior Garrett Werner has held onto the middle blocker position for the past two years. As a freshman, Werner came in second on the team with 72 blocks and second in hits with 97 kills. As a sophomore, Werner clinched a five-set win over Hawaii with a solo block. He also had a thrilling performance against UCLA with seven blocks. Alongside Werner, sophomore Gus Ellis will be taking sets in the middle from senior setter Kawika Shoji.

“I think our middles have vastly improved offensively from last year so that gives us another threat that we needed last year,” Kosty said. “I think this year we’ll get that consistently.”

With blocking as the team’s first line of defense, the second line of defense comes in the form of sophomore libero Erik Shoji.

“Erik was the best defender last year in the country and we were the best defensive team in the country last year,” Kosty said. “I think our ball control and passing for our offensive game is one of our biggest strengths.”

Good blocking and good passing will be essential for the Cardinal against the stacked Hawaii team this weekend.

Stanford swept both meetings with the Warriors last year in Hawaii, led by Kawika Shoji’s 49 assists and outside hitter Evan Romero’s 21 kills.

“They’re very talented. They’re going to be a tough first opponent,” Kawika said. “It’s going to be an exciting first two matches for us.”

Stanford needs to come out strong to start off conference play because the MPSF is by far the most competitive conference in the country.

“Although the level of competition in the MPSF was very high last year, it is shaping up to be even higher this year,” Ellis said. “More importantly than anything else, we will need to play at the highest level possible for every game of every match if we are going to accomplish our ultimate goal.”

The ultimate goal is always a national championship and with a strong team of experienced players with great chemistry, Stanford has its hopes set on being in the mix.

The Cardinal takes on the Warriors tonight and Saturday night. Both matches tip off at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.