On Joshua Walker’s imaginary sheet of tasks to accomplish from the time he was hired as the fourth Hawaii women’s volleyball head coach to now, about 80% has been achieved.

Read more Tropical Storm Lowell forms east of Hawaii

On Joshua Walker’s imaginary sheet of tasks to accomplish from the time he was hired as the fourth Hawaii women’s volleyball head coach to now, about 80% has been achieved.

“I think as far as support in the gym, we want to get in all of the technology stuff that will help a lot,” Walker said. “We still want to get that together, but as far as the necessities, we’ve got everything we need right now.”

The first-year head coach has yet to move the furniture in his new place. His volleyball office has a couple of chairs but is still missing a couch.

It’s been less than three months since he was officially hired to replace Robyn Ah Mow in late April. His official debut is Friday night as Hawaii opens the season against Georgia Southern in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic.

The team will play three matches, including against No. 21 Baylor on Saturday, in three days and eight total over the first 16 days of the season.

What hasn’t happened yet probably won’t happen for a while, but ultimately, the coach feels in a good place as he sets out to bring back a standard of winning for a program rich in history.

“I think that we have a lot of players that can play multiple positions,” Walker said. “Even though we don’t have a full roster of 18, we have a lot of different pieces to be able to have a lot of different lineups with the 15 that we have. So that’s good, because again, it gives us a lot of solutions with a limited amount of people.”

The Rainbow Wahine are coming off the first losing season in program history. They finished 12-17 and failed to qualify for the six-team Big West Tournament after winning the previous five conference championships.

Ah Mow stepped down in late April, saying firmly it was her decision to not return for a ninth year.

Eight returnees, including preseason All-Mountain West Conference selection Cha’lei Reid, are back to help guide the Rainbow Wahine into a new conference.

UH will play teams twice in the same weekend when MWC play begins in late September. Hawaii will play the top four teams on the road according to the preseason Mountain West poll and host the five teams picked to finish below it.

Read more Local sports briefs: Warriros sweep in home opener; other scores

“I’m actually really excited for the whole back-to-back thing,” junior libero Victoria Leyva said at the start of camp. “Our travel is going to be a little bit crazier just because we’re traveling to further places, but I’m excited. If you don’t get it done on night one, you can get it done on night two. We’re obviously going to always be striving to dominate both games of the series.”

Walker has filled out his coaching staff with former UH men’s player Kolby Kanetake and Will McDonald as assistants. McDonald coached with Walker the previous three seasons at Baylor.

Heather Olmstead, who was the AVCA National Coach of the Year and guided Bringham Young to an .835 winning percentage over 11 seasons, officially began her stint as associate coach on Monday after flying in over the weekend.

Olmstead, who coached with Walker for USA Volleyball, guided the U17 women’s team that won gold at the FIVB world Championships in Santiago, Chile.

“(Coach Walker) got me on the Zooms early on and we chatted about the systems and how he wants to coach and how he wants to lay the foundation of the culture,” Olmstead said Friday. “I watched the Chaminade scrimmage and I’m just watching right now until I meet the girls. I really just want to follow his lead and help where I can.”

UH will begin the year playing the Eagles, who were picked to finish second in the Eastern Division of the Sun Belt Conference, for the first time ever.

Saturday’s match against Walker’s old team, the Bears, will be the 10th in the series with Baylor winning the last three.

Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre, whom Walker coached under for four seasons, is married to former UH player Jennifer (Roberts) McGuyre.

Hawaii will close the tournament playing San Diego for the fifth straight season. The Toreros were picked to finish first in the West Coast Conference and received votes in the AVCA preseason poll.

UH will wear jerseys with a First Hawaiian Bank patch. FHB is the official sponsor for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball program.

“First Hawaiian Bank has always been an incredible partner to our university, and we are thrilled to expand that relationship with this jersey patch sponsorship,” Hawaii athletic director Matt Elliott said in a press release Wednesday. “To see their logo on the jerseys of our volleyball and basketball teams is a testament to their belief in our student-athletes. Between this sponsorship and their foundational support of our NIL programs, First Hawaiian Bank is helping us adapt and thrive in this new era of college athletics.”

Read more County’s loss of lease for Punalu‘u park sparks concerns