In a state where volleyball expectations are both a blessing and a curse, and never include less than a national championship, the 'Bows dared to dream in high definition. With a lone — albeit brilliant — returning starter from last year in Kanoe Kamana'o, they convinced Hawai'i to dream with them.

Which only made Friday's heartbreaking loss more painful to process. In one final frenzy, they replayed the entire season in fast forward. The Rainbow Wahine lost the first two games looking every bit the inexperienced team that they were in September. Then they showed, for the 31st time, that nothing was impossible.

The Cardiac Keiki rallied from another deep deficit and fought their way to two match points. They lost both, falling to the Badgers 21-19 in the fifth game. At 30-1, this team that loses just two seniors ended with the third-best record in the Rainbow Wahine's hallowed history, and reached No. 1 in the rankings.

Ashley Watanabe watched from the bench Friday and had a strange sensation. Hawai'i's starting libero — until she broke her hand last week — saw it end through a smile.

"Obviously it hurt, because it was a feasible dream," Watanabe said. "But I was happy through the entirety of the match because I could see people giving it there all on and off the court. I saw all the girls just giving their hearts. I've never been so proud. Even after a loss, I didn't need to cry.

"I'm sure it was more difficult for the people who played because they wanted it that much more, but what I saw was something money couldn't buy. I couldn't have been more happy to be part of this team this year. It could have been better, but it was glorious as it was."

It would be hard to argue, even through yesterday's pervasive sadness. UH coach Dave Shoji, who never compromised his demands despite the inexperience of his team, kept returning to the same theme.

"It was just them, just the players that had no quit in them and had a lot of fight," he said. "They just fought to the end and they fought to the end in the last match too."

He called it "a wonderful season" with "the most over-achieving team we've ever had." He could only compare it to his feisty 1979 squad that won the school's first national team championship.

But that team succeeded despite its differences. This team formed a bond the moment the seven seniors left last December and only grew closer as the season magically progressed.

"We have so much confidence in everyone on our team because everyone has performed when we needed it," junior Susie Boogaard said early in the season. "We had two injuries in the first two games, shifted the lineup completely around and it was comfortable, perfectly comfortable, playing like that from the first moment. I had confidence in everybody."

That faith turned out to be crucial, and it never wavered. Shoji traced much of Hawai'i's success to every player feeling "accountable" on every play. "No one wanted to let everyone else down," he said, "so they basically just played hard."

All 16 players, everyday. Each match was unique, but the Rainbow Wahine overwhelmed no one and beat everyone, until Wisconsin became the first opponent that didn't flinch in Game 5. For that, the Badgers deserved to move on. And in that, there should be no shame. Every Rainbow was part of the process.

"The story has always been, we knew we weren't going to have this predictable offense," associate coach Charlie Wade said last week. "We knew that different people were going to have to step up at different times and they have. That's been the part that's been the most pleasing, the most surprising. We've been down, down in matches and down in games, and any number of people have stepped up at different times. We knew going in that had to happen for us to have a good season, and it has."

Next year, everyone but captain Melody Eckmier and Teisa Fotu will be back. Those are large losses, on the court and for the chemistry this team has created.

As Shoji warned, Hawai'i will "definitely not sneak up on anybody" next season. After this year, expectations will be even greater than usual. The difference is now it is known that this group's expectations are high. Even Shoji, in his 30th year, spent much of the season in awe.

"I was just waiting for something to happen to us," he admitted. "I thought, 'How can this keep going on?' I was waiting for us to implode, but we never did. The more momentum we got ... I was looking at the other teams and thinking we've got a chance with this matchup and that matchup and I started thinking we could go pretty far. And we could have."

And they did. Just not as far as Hawai'i — and especially the Rainbow Wahine — would have liked.

NOTES

Stanford swept Wisconsin, 30-18, 31-29, 30-26, to win the Green Bay, Wis., regional and advance to next week's final four at Long Beach, Calif. Two other Pac-10 teams also advanced. Southern California defeated tournament top-seed Nebraska, 3-2, in the Louisville, Ky., regional final and Washington defeated UCLA, 3-2, in the Seattle final.

Fourth-seeded Minnesota was the only regional top seed to advance. The Gophers defeated Ohio State, 3-2. No. 2 Penn State lost in the round of 16 to UCLA. Hawai'i was No. 3.

UH junior outside hitter Susie Boogaard was named to the regional all-tournament team. Ogonna Nnamani of Stanford was chosen most valuable player. Others on the all-tournament team were Myra Topic (Texas), Jocelyn Wack (Wisconsin), Jill Odenthal (Wisconsin) and Kristin Richards (Stanford).