A construction worker came up to Margaret Vakasausau and Jennifer Carey, who were with Thurlby, and detailed a list of things the setters should do to make Hawai'i better.

What surprised Thurlby most was not that a stranger felt compelled to tell two all-conference setters on a top-ranked team what to do. It was how graciously Vakasausau and Carey responded, promising to take his advice to heart.

They had been through it before.

"They just looked at me and said, 'That's going to happen,' " Thurlby recalled. "It was situations like that where I truly learned about playing volleyball in Hawai'i."

Iolani graduate Kanoe Kamana'o and Thurlby, who came here from Chicago, will get a crash course in the next few months. Neither has set a Division I match, but one will start on a team that returns players at every other position.

Three of the seven UH seniors — Lily Kahumoku, Kim Willoughby and Lauren Duggins — are All-Americans. The expectations are mind-boggling. The sense of urgency borders on desperation for a program that has four national titles, but none since 1987.

And the setter will be a freshman. That much is known, with Kamana'o and Thurlby coming into yesterday's opening practice dead even, with surprisingly similar games and an outlook that is all about taking the pressure off the seniors by giving them what they need.

"It's not a competition for us," Kamana'o says. "It's about pushing each other.

"It's fun, overwhelming."

Kamana'o and Thurlby might have learned the game 4,000 miles apart, but their resumes are much the same: Fab 50 recruits, all-state honors, honor roll academics, national club success. Thurlby had last year to train with UH, but Kamana'o grew up shagging balls and wiping floors at Rainbow Wahine matches. Even their birthdays are close, Kamana'o turning 18 yesterday and Thurlby 19 today.

Their differences are fairly obvious. At 5 foot 11, Thurlby is three inches taller. She also has bigger hands and appears to "hold" the ball longer before it catapults out.

With three years of junior national team experience at libero, Kamana'o has an impeccable ball-handling background. Her hands are softer and her wrists start back earlier so it looks as if she's "flicking" the ball rather than "shooting" it. She resembles Olympic setter Robyn Ah Mow, the player Kamana'o has modeled her game after, and trained with intermittently.

That's about it for differences. Kamana'o and Thurlby deliver the ball from the same altitude and at the same tempo. Both will be asked to jump-set nearly everything this season, to speed up the offense.

Before their first official assist to Kahumoku or Willoughby — two of the finest outside hitters in Hawai'i history — both freshmen also have an abiding appreciation of the high, outside set. Their proficiency at that set, which accounted for about two-thirds of the UH offense last season, could determine their playing fate.

Other much more subtle skills will play a part. Consistency is crucial. Confidence might be more so.

The high set that looks so easy has to be delivered within a specific two-foot space across the court every time, even to hitters like Kahumoku and Willoughby, who are adept at adjustments.

Confidence can be gained or lost just with eye contact. Hitters sense fear in their setters. What they want is attitude, always. Kamana'o and Thurlby will give it to them the only way they know how.

"Of course my goal is to be the starting setter," Thurlby said. "Of course that's Kanoe's goal. But we're not going to sit here and fight it out. We're going to help each other improve and work our butts off.

"Especially here ... being part of this program is one of the most exciting things I'll ever experience in my life. I'm just taking it a day at a time, doing the best I can. That's pretty much all I can do."