Thinking inside the box — in this case, UC Irvine's cozy Crawford Hall — Hawai'i volleyball coach Mike Wilton made key personnel decisions for today's season-opening match against the top-ranked Anteaters.

Two freshmen — libero Ric Cervantes and middle blocker Matthew Rawson — have secured starting berths.

They join two All-America players — setter Brian Beckwith and opposite attacker Lauri Hakala — middle blocker Kyle Klinger and left-side hitter Eric Kalima.

The seventh starter is either left-side hitter Ernie Vidinha or Matthew Vanzant. Wilton will decide after today's morning drills in the Bren Center.

Mark Ribeiro was a candidate for the left-side position. But he overslept Wednesday, showing up halfway through the dawn practice.

"Not a good excuse," Wilton said.

Ribeiro was removed from the 13-player travel roster. Wilton had thought the travel roster could not be changed within 48 hours of Wednesday's afternoon departure, but he learned otherwise.

Jim Clar replaced Ribeiro on the roster.

Wilton said Clar was ahead of Jacob Schkud, who resumed practicing Tuesday after missing an exhibition match and two workouts because of flu-like symptoms. Schkud had started an exhibition match last week before becoming ill.

Wilton said "staying home and eating three squares and getting some reps will be good for (Schkud)."

Wilton said Cervantes earns the start because he has been a more consistently accurate passer than Michael China.

"He has a good confidence level," Wilton said of Cervantes. "He can pass. He can play some defense."

Wilton said it has been difficult to find a successor to Alfee Reft, an All-America libero now training with the national team.

"Maybe that's a pretty tall order," Wilton said. "If they have half the work effort of Alfee, they'll become marvelous players."

Rawson, who plays with unabashed enthusiasm, replaces Dio Dante, who resumed practicing yesterday. Dante missed three workouts because of illness. Dante did not participate in the final two months of fall training after suffering an injury to his right thumb.

"I may change my mind (about starting Rawson), but I think not," Wilton said.