A week ago, while Kanoe Kamana'o was preparing to take an all new supporting cast into the 2004 season, a winning record in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic would have been considered a successful start. Now, a loss to 17th-ranked Arizona today would be extremely disappointing.

UH coach Dave Shoji has gone from hoping his team didn't "fall on its face," to wondering what went right.

"They've just found a way to win," Shoji says. "We've had good plays by different people at crucial times. It wasn't one person, it was a combination. That is really encouraging when different people step up and make a play.

"The ability to play good volleyball at crucial times ... that's what you never know. So far they have responded."

Shoji will start two freshmen (Tara Hittle and Kari Gregory), two sophomores (Kamana'o and Alicia Arnott) and three juniors (Susie Boogaard, Ashley Watanabe and Victoria Prince) tonight. Arizona is nearly as young, but returns last year's NCAA Tournament team nearly intact — with an asterisk. Second-team All-American Kim Glass is not expected to play because of a shoulder injury.

Arizona coach Dave Rubio believes playing without Glass, for up to three weeks, will ultimately help his team. Now, it is struggling to adjust to her absence. Rubio is more impressed with Hawai'i's adjustments.

"Everyone is impressed with Hawai'i," Rubio said. "Obviously when you lose the caliber of players Dave lost last year — six starters, a national Player of the Year ... but what Dave has is a great group of young kids who have great chemistry on the court. And they are really good volleyball players.

"If you're going to beat Hawai'i you'll have to beat them. They're going to force you to earn every point. ... Hawai'i is a very low-error team, which is the exact opposite of the type of team we need to play. We need to play a team like us, that's kind of erratic and good once in awhile."

Shoji's concern is that his team won't match up physically with the Wildcats. Last October, Arizona took then-No. 2 Hawai'i to five games here. The Wildcats had Glass then, but the 'Bows had seven all-conference seniors.

San Diego came back strong yesterday afternoon to sweep Arizona, 30-17, 30-16, 30-24. The Toreros (1-1) hit .315 to the Wildcats' (2-1) .139. San Diego's Devon Forster, who had 26 kills against UH, added 19 yesterday, with 13 digs.

San Diego was picked to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference, which sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament last year. Ninth-ranked Pepperdine was picked to win the conference; it will play here Sept. 24 and 25. Santa Clara, ranked 22nd and picked to finish second, plays UH on Friday.