Big Island volleyball fans can watch the Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans earlier than normal and also see half a dozen top Division II teams when the Hawai'i Challenge tips off the 2018 season, Aug. 23-25 at the Vulcan Gymnasium.

The Vulcans will play St. Cloud State, UC San Diego, Saint Martin's and Simon Fraser in the 2018 opening weekend, in a tournament that also features HPU and Chaminade playing those same opponents. The Hawai'i Challenge will run all day Thursday-Saturday, with UH Hilo playing Thursday and Friday afternoon/evening matches.

"This gives us a chance to showcase a new and improved Vulcan team sooner rather than later," said second-year UHH head coach Gene Krieger. "Local fans have a chance to see some strong Division II teams from three of the top Division II volleyball conferences in the country."

The NCAA volleyball calendar starts a week earlier in 2018 than most years. That means that the Vulcans will report to practice this year on August 5.

The Hawai'i Challenge will provide a stern test for Krieger's team. St. Cloud (Minn.) plays in the top Division II league in the country, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Huskies went 16-14 last year in a conference that had six teams ranked in the national top 20, including eventual NCAA champion and perennial power Concordia-St. Paul. UC San Diego, who is in the process of moving to the NCAA Division I level, went 16-10 in 2017 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), annually one of the top volleyball conferences in the nation. Simon Fraser (B.C.) and St. Martin's (Wash.) reside in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), a league that supplied four of the eight teams in last year's NCAA Division II West Region Championships.

After the Hawai'i Challenge, the Vulcans will travel to San Francisco to participate in the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase (Pod E), squaring off against Cal State Dominguez Hills, St. Martin's, San Francisco State and Montana State-Billings. The Vulcans will then open their Pacific West Conference season at home, hosting Dominican (Sept. 7) and Notre Dame de Namur (Sept. 10).

The Vulcans also have a long homestand in late September and October, hosting six consecutive matches. The will have a southern California road trip (Sept. 17-22) and another northern California trip (Oct. 20-27), but missing this year will be matches against defending PacWest champ California Baptist and Dixie State. CBU will move to Division I in 2018 and Dixie State is now in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).

Coinciding with the Hawai'i Challenge for an early start, the Vulcans will host a scrimmage on August 21 against Grand Rapids Community College (Mich.). The official opener on Aug. 23 (Thursday) against St. Cloud State will begin at 2 p.m.