When the preseason College Sports Television/Am-erican Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll came out Monday, University of Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji said he was relieved to find the Rainbow Wahine weren't on top.

"You probably don't want to be in that No. 1 or No. 2 slot right now," said Shoji, the coach in him coming out. "I like being the underdog a lot better than being the favorite."

Truth be told, however, the Rainbow Wahine's days of being any kind of a real underdog ended many months ago. There just aren't that many "dogs" ahead of them anymore.

With all seven starters and 12 letter winners returning from a team that went 30-1 and finished eighth in the final poll, the No. 4 Rainbow Wahine clearly won't be sneaking up on anybody this year. Nor, frankly, do they expect to.

That is one of the biggest differences for the Rainbows, who began practice last night for their Aug. 26 season opener against No. 1 Nebraska in the NACWAA Volleyball Showcase in Omaha, Neb. Last year, the Rainbows had few expectations pressed upon them. Now there is a lot demanded.

Fittingly, much of it is from within, where they've made it known an NCAA third round ending to the season won't cut it. Not now.

Last year at this time the public hope was just that the Rainbows Wahine, given the amount of their losses and scope of the rebuilding to do, would get into and, maybe, past the first round of the NCAA Tournament. At that time, any suggestion of getting within a couple swings of the final four would have been grounds for committal.

But not this time around. This year there is nobody who sees the third round as an acceptable finish, much less a goal. Especially, it seems, among the Rainbow Wahine.

"Our expectations are for the end of the year," Shoji said. "We want to go past the third round and, so, I think that's in the back of everybody's mind. I think our players expect to win every match, again."

From early on last year Shoji counseled patience with the rearming Rainbows. He pleaded for time. A full season, perhaps. And most people agreed, including fellow coaches who had ranked UH 13th, its lowest start in the polls in six years.

Well, except for the Rainbow Wahine, it turned out. "I was making statements about not knowing how good we were," Shoji said. "At the same time, I think all the players thought they were going to win every match. Which, the way it turned out, they were right and I was wrong."

So, this year, "Well, they fully expect to win every match, again," Shoji said. "They are a highly motivated group and they are very confident. So, this time, I'm not gonna tell them that isn't realistic."

Underdogs? Not anymore.