A home crowd and "500 gamblers" — as UH coach Dave Shoji calls his team's followers — would rock tiny Virginia Street Gym in front of a national TV audience. The WAC would get a shot at having three teams in the NCAA Tournament. Unbeaten Hawai'i would have the perfect postseason warmup.

And Nevada would get another chance at breaking into volleyball's big time. It is the least it deserves after taking the Rainbow Wahine to five games here and in Hawai'i the past six weeks. No other WAC team has come close to that since BYU.

DEVIN SCRUGGS

"This last time, with that atmosphere ... we knew we were coming into an environment where the odds were totally stacked against us — by about 10,000 (fans). So to get as close as we did and be able to taste it again ... the feeling afterwards wasn't so much a depression as a mad, and an absolute hunger for a next time. The fact that we could get a next time Sunday, as long as we do what we need to do, is exciting."

Sunday, though, is far away. Top-seeded Hawai'i faces eighth-seeded Southern Methodist in the first round today (10 a.m. Hawai'i time). Third-seeded Nevada takes on sixth-seeded San Jose State tonight.

If it wins, UH will have to get by Fresno or Boise State tomorrow. The Pack will probably have to beat back No. 2 Rice.

On paper, the Owls look like the better team. But it is Nevada that has evolved into the 'Bows' nemesis. The Owls got a game in Hawai'i, but didn't deliver nearly the drama the Wolf Pack provided. Besides, Rice is running away to Conference USA next season. Rivalry is not an option.

With Nevada, it is a fascinating probability, according to both coaches. Their teams are young and bring out the best in each other.

"They make you play better," Pack setter Tristin Adams says. "You don't have to worry abut getting up for a game with Hawai'i. You want to play your best game because they're the best in the conference — ever.

"I haven't got over the first time we lost to them, and after Saturday, I feel I need to be vindicated or something. I don't know if they feel the same way (about a rivalry) but, for us, it would be such a big win for our program."

Hawai'i is starting to warm to Nevada's challenge. Or maybe it is just starting to cool off from Saturday's big scare.

"That was one of the most fun games I've played in," sophomore Alicia Arnott says. "When you have people exchanging kills and it's like, 'Oh yeah, you think that's hard, take this,' everybody gets pumped up."

The challenge for the Pack is to sustain its level — of play and intensity — for an entire match and then into the future. Hawai'i has 30 years of tradition on it.

Nevada never made the NCAA Tournament until Scruggs came eight years ago. Now it has gone three times. It has yet to be ranked. It brings in raw talent because it can rarely compete for highly sought recruits. Ten of its players can drive home in 2 hours. Salaia Salave'a, runner-up to UH setter Kanoe Kamana'o for WAC Player of the Year, is from American Samoa.

"Obviously they have to keep this going and keep working," Shoji says. "There's no reason why they won't. They got this far through dedication. We've got to stay one step ahead of them."

The Pack has laid the foundation for a bright future, but its only real reward so far is that it has become the sole WAC team to force Hawai'i to play with a desperate passion. When Kamana'o won a confrontation at the net to end the fourth game Saturday, she began to cry.

"I thought she was injured," manager Ryan Tsuji recalls. "She was just in tears. She said 'I can't take it, I'm so emotional. I love these guys.' "

She was talking about her teammates. In retrospect, she might include the Nevada players. They offer a dangerous combination of talent and toughness to a Hawai'i team that craves that type of challenge on a more regular basis.

Adams and Salave'a shed tears of frustration when it was over Saturday. They had dried by time the team walked out of the arena to a standing ovation. "That," Adams said, "was by far the coolest thing I've ever experienced in sports."

When the team put on its sweats and explored the North Shore the next morning, a dozen people pulled over with congratulations. More was in store at the airport. "It was absolutely an incredible experience for them," Scruggs recalled.

It only made the Pack want to beat Hawai'i more. That would guarantee national recognition and open recruits' eyes, and hopefully help turn one of the world's most breathtaking outdoor playgrounds into a volleyball town where, as in Hawai'i, everybody knows your name.

There is a lot at stake this weekend, for the Pack and the WAC. Hawai'i, in contrast, is here to fine tune for the NCAA Tournament and try to continue its remarkable ride.

"We are the underdog," Scruggs says. "I know Hawai'i wants to win the WAC, but if they want it more than we do I'd be shocked. The desire of what our kids want and what they're doing to be successful is pretty neat."