Given the choice of turning over the family car to one of his kids with a freshly minted driver's license or handing the keys of the Rainbow Wahine's offense to the setter, University of Hawai'i volleyball coach Dave Shoji would ...

" ... Hmmm, let me think about that one," Shoji says, his brow crinkling as he mulled the question deeply.

Truth is it hasn't been easy for him to do either.

So, when Shoji says he's going to give setter Kanoe Kamana'o a free hand to make the calls this season, it is a significant step if not a red-letter moment in Rainbow Wahine history.

So much so that Shoji recalls only having done it twice in 30 previous years of coaching at UH: with Robin Ah Mow in the mid-1990s and Nahaku Brown in the early 1980s. This despite having had five All-America setters prior to Kamana'o.

Such is the rare level of confidence and measure of trust Kamana'o has achieved after two seasons. That Kamana'o has been so coachable, so welcoming of feedback and dedicated to perfection made the decision easier.

In a season that opens with No. 1-ranked Nebraska in 12 days and is peppered with top 10 teams thereafter, Shoji admits to preparing to give Kamana'o the equivalent of a blank check.

"Yeah, it really is," Shoji says. "I just want her to free it up and feel like she can do anything without having to answer to me or anybody else."

No more nervous glances over at the bench to see if she made the right set? No more trying to divine what the coaches would call in a similar situation?

"She's not gonna be looking at me like, 'I should have not done that,' she's gonna have full control," Shoji maintains. "(Otherwise) I think you can get so regimented that you get stiff. I want to free her up to be loose and she's got the skills to do that now. With her experience, I think she will make better choices."

After learning on the job, the feeling is that she has, as a junior, come to understand the various percentages at play while knowing the talents and limitations of the teammates around her.

"I've always been real conservative (so that) if the ball is here then it (the set) has to go here," Shoji admits. "But I think now I can just give her full range. From any position she can set anybody. And, she can do that. I want her to do that. I want her to keep the block off balance. I think she'll feel better with having Susie Boogaard over there (on the right, after moving from leftside hitter). And, we can set the back row, wherever she wants to set it."

Now, when one of his sons asks about the keys to the family car ...