Hawai'i did everything but close last year in a volleyball season that saw the Rainbow Wahine win their first 30 matches before falling in the NCAA Regionals. The emphasis six days into this season is on finishing what the 'Bows so shockingly started last year.

Sarah Mason has been anointed the player most likely to terminate. In true "I'll be back" fashion, the 2003 St. Joseph (Hilo) graduate transferred home in the spring after two all-Pac-10 seasons at Oregon. At 6 feet 3, she is the tallest of the five players trying to win two left-side hitting positions, and most experienced after packing the lowly Ducks on her back.

"She's got maybe the purest armswing on the team," UH coach Dave Shoji says, "which means she can hit it exactly where she wants to hit it. She's one that can actually go over some people when she doesn't have another choice."

In that, Shoji admits, Mason is alone on his team. Not that hitting alone will help her break into a lineup that remains intact from last season, but Mason is not just another DH. She excels in all the scoring areas, possessing the wingspan to block with the best of the 'Bows and finishing in the top five in kills and aces last year in the Pac-10.

"She beats the hell out of her serve," says associate coach Charlie Wade. "The good jump servers are the ones who serve like their personality. (Tara) Hittle has that little, quick approach, and Victoria (Prince) is real graceful. Sarah is long and loopy."

She brought it back to Hawai'i for reasons rooted in academics (Oregon did not have a degree in fashion design), a love of the Islands (her family taped every UH match and mailed it to her) and her sense that she could never be fulfilled athletically as a Duck.

Five years ago, college volleyball wasn't even part of Mason's personal landscape. She loved the game from the moment she touched a volleyball at age 10, and grew up playing with new teammate Alicia Arnott in Hilo. But Mason says she was "never good" until she "grew into her body" late in high school.

She earned all-state recognition her last two years, taking St. Joseph to second in the state as a senior. Oregon noticed first and dangled the opportunity to play in the country's best conference. Mason committed early. But two years of getting beat ultimately beat her down.

"Losing all the time and you feel you worked so hard and you get nothing ..." Mason says. "I don't know how some of those girls could do it so long. I couldn't handle it anymore. I knew there was something better out there for me. I'm glad I found it in Hawai'i."

Even if the move home meant the end to guaranteed playing time, "learning it's not always about you" and realizing that offense and defense in Oregon and Hawai'i are as different as the weather.

Mason accelerated her learning curve by transferring last spring and paying tuition until her scholarship kicks in this fall. It's given her a jump-start on picking up a UH defense "exactly the opposite" of what the Ducks run and expediting her hitting approach to fit a quicker attack.

"Hitting has never been that hard for me," Mason says, "but when I first came here I felt like it was my first day on a volleyball court."

That has changed. Now, Shoji sees an "efficiency" he never expected when he watched Mason in high school. He envisions her planting the ball into the floor in flurries — if she can break into a lineup that was a point away from a regional final eight months ago.

"Playing at Oregon I was always one of the better players and I was always helping other people and challenging them," Mason recalls. "Now I'm being challenged by everyone. It's such a good experience to really be challenged and know that I'm getting better every day.

"Everyone here is so good, there's so much talent you're never guaranteed a spot. It's a big competition that makes us all better. There is no room for mistakes. We know there's no room to slack off so we're going all out every time we get a chance to touch the ball. There's no wiggle room at all."