"I remember saying to her when she was starting sports, 'A lot of those girls are like 8-feet tall and you're 2-feet tall,' " recalls Kathy Cabrera, Villaroman's sister. "She'd say, 'I'm not 2-feet tall.'

"Then I'd tell her, 'I'm just saying there's the green giant and there's Jack, and Jack is really small. And you're Jack.' "

"Jack" just kept coming back.

MELISSA VILLAROMAN

When that sport wasn't offered in elementary school, a perceptive PE teacher introduced her to volleyball. Villaroman spent the next decade proving there is still a place for the menehune among the sport's elite.

Last year, when she was a junior, the NCAA even gave it a name when it introduced the libero position to the women's game. It is a designated back-row specialist who can only pass and defend, and Villaroman can do both brilliantly.

Villaroman earned all-league honors in volleyball and basketball at St. Joseph High School in Carson, Calif. She was introduced to the Asian-inspired barrel rolls and go-low volleyball of Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro while playing for his proteges on her club team.

Instead of staying home, Villaroman, whose grandfather is Hawaiian, decided to walk-on at Hawai'i. She worried she would be an outsider, fretted that she would never see the floor and stood "frozen in terror" opening night when UH Coach Dave Shoji put her in during a timeout.

Teammate Aven Lee gave her a push, reminding Villaroman that her grandfather, uncle and sister were in the stands. Unfortunately, they had just left to get food. Villaroman took it as an omen and "freaked out even more."

By the end of the night, Villaroman was a veteran. She's played all but three matches her four seasons and earned the first scholarship open after she got here.

"Afterward she gave me a hug and said, 'It's my first game and I played,' Cabrera recalled. "I told her, 'To me, you won the game. You were awesome.' She knew then she could do this. She told me that night 'I can't wait for the rest of my career.' "

It has gone by in a blur of victories and two final fours. Villaroman has passed thousands of serves and dug hundreds of balls. Almost without fail, the ball goes directly to the setter with no wasted movement. She has exceptional hand-eye coordination and, according to heir apparent Ashley Watanabe, "Good Lord, reflexes like no other."

Villaroman has leapt from "learner" to role model. Her focus now, beyond improving everything about her game, is to be a leader with the six other seniors. She wants them to feed off her energy, as she feeds off theirs.

"I don't need to have the title of captain," Villaroman says. "The title doesn't matter to me. I just want to be more vocal, help the freshmen and be a really good teammate. There's no time to let this go my last year."

Her sister has heard that statement more than once the last few months. It is as if Villaroman has reversed the usual model. Recognition is inconsequential.

"What she gets out of it is not huge recognition," Cabrera says. "She says it's not all about me, it's about the Rainbow Wahine."

"She's been my mentor from the first day I stepped in the gym," says Watanabe. "Her off days are still good days. She's always got a good attitude. She's the one person we can always look to."

Shoji echoes that, characterizing Villaroman as the one player his team most needs on the floor.

"Melissa never gets rattled," Shoji says. "She doesn't play with a lot of emotion. Sometimes that's good. She's not going to get hyper and she rarely gets down. She's very reliable, steady. We all know where she's going to be."

Off the court she's pretty easy to pin down as well.

She is an active member of her church and conscientious student. Like her sister, whom she calls the most influential person in her life, she will graduate in business with a strong interest in computers. Villaroman is also a camera bug and doting aunt to 4-month-old Jasmine Cabrera.

"I see how organized she is in her personal life and her sports life," Cabrera says. "She knows how to make a distinction and yet integrate them.

"Getting a balance can be tough. I've had her call one day stressing out over school, the next about her boyfriend and the next saying she needs a couple bucks. I tell her things always work out, don't worry about it. I know deep inside she believes that."

QUICK SETS: Melissa Villaroman's brother, Brian, a 5-10 libero, will try to walk on the UH men's team this season. ... Margaret Vakasausau, last year's captain and setter, is leaving for Croatia where she will play professionally for the Sibinek club team.