Posted on: Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Rainbow Wahine will be tested early

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

Officially, the season-opening event the University of Hawai'i is hosting Aug. 22-23 is known as the "State Farm Women's Volleyball Classic presented by NACWAA."

Such is the cumbersome title that only with some help can Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji tell you that the initials stand for "National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators."

But there's no trouble in comprehending what the whole thing means for UH:

That the freshly minted No. 2 national ranking the Rainbow Wahine received will be under fire from the opening serve this season.

Any thoughts of easing into this season, as they have sometimes had the luxury of in years past, were jolted away yesterday with the release of the preseason USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

In the nine years of the State Farm Classic, sort of volleyball's version of the Kickoff Classic, this is the first time that the top three teams in the preseason poll have been assembled in one power-packed field.

Here the Rainbow Wahine, coming off a 34-2 season, get their highest preseason ranking in seven years and they will have very little time to enjoy it. Not since 1996, when they were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, have the Rainbow Wahine had more momentum going into the season or, it turns out, more to challenge them when they get there.

Between defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Southern California, No. 3 Florida and No. 15 Kansas State, the Rainbow Wahine have their work cut out for them. Especially while breaking a new setter into the lineup.

"I would have liked an Appalachian State in there to open the season," Shoji deadpans.

"It isn't the best of situations," Shoji said. "To tell you the truth I'd have liked to have had someone who wasn't in the top (20) to open with. We could have used four or five matches against somebody who isn't in the Top 10, but that's just not the case this time."

When you get a chance to host something like this at the Stan Sheriff Center — and this will be a first for the Rainbow Wahine after traveling to two previous classics — you take it. And make the best of it.

For the good news — if the Rainbow Wahine can get past Kansas State in the opener and hold their own with the winner of USC-Florida in the final — is what it could mean for the future.

Indeed, the event has been something of a predictor of final four ability. In half of the previous eight State Farm Classics at least two teams have found themselves in the NCAA semifinals at the end of the season.

"It is nice to be No. 2 right now," Shoji said, "but I'd much rather be No. 1 at the end of the season."