The Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's volleyball team was the only Division II school to finish the regular season undefeated, yet is ranked No. 8 nationally and No. 3 in the Pacific Region.

Seasiders coach Wilfred Navalta said the rankings are justified because this season the Pacific West Conference was weak and the California Collegiate Athletic Association was strong.

"For us in our conference, we had a down year. Look at the records of the teams we've beaten except Chaminade (second-place, 17-6)," he said.

BYU-Hawai'i, the PacWest champion, is 20-0 overall and the No. 3 seed for the eight-team Pacific Regional at San Bernardino, Calif. The Seasiders open today at 10 a.m. (Hawai'i time) against No. 6 seed Cal State Los Angeles (17-8) of the CCAA.

"It's going to be tough," Navalta said. "Any California school (is tough) because of the number of schools in the conference. The California schools have one of the strongest conferences in the United States."

The 12-team CCAA has four schools in the regional, including the top two seeds — CS San Bernardino (25-1) and UC San Diego (23-2). BYU-Hawai'i is the lone representative from the six-team PacWest; the nine-team Great Northwest Athletic Conference placed three teams in the regional.

Seven of the eight teams in the regional are ranked in the CSTV/AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, released Monday.

If BYU-Hawai'i wins today, it will face the winner of Western Washington-UC San Diego match tomorrow at 3 p.m., Hawai'i time.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.