At every level, Kanani Herring has been light years ahead of the normal volleyball learning curve. She was Hawai'i State Player of the Year as a Kamehameha sophomore ... and junior and senior. A crucial cog in the success of last year's USA Youth National Team at the World Championship. Best Passer at NORCECA International Youth Volleyball.

"I remember (former UH associate coach) Charlie (Wade) saying she could probably play right now in college, as a high school sophomore," recalled UH assistant Ryan Tsuji, who coached Herring on the Imi Ike club team. "She would be right up there with the freshmen on our team. She already had that potential."

Beginning with yesterday's first practice of the 2008 season, it is no longer potential. Herring is a Rainbow Wahine. She might be the most anticipated UH freshman from Hawai'i since Kanoe Kamana'o and Lily Kahumoku.

Coaches try to be cautious about someone 6 hours into her college career but Herring's talent, particularly her innate gifts for ballhandling and blasting off the ground, are too tough to ignore. There are six accomplished outside hitters on the roster this year and only three can start against defending NCAA champion Penn State in the season-opener Aug. 29.

Herring, the youngest and smallest, is right there.

"I've coached her in club for 2 1/2 years," UH associate Mike Sealy said. "At the club level, when she was on, she was unstoppable. One of the top three kids in her class.

"She is the highest jumper on our team, the best volleyball player in the gym as far as passing and getting the ball to the setter. She has been playing a long time. What has hurt her is she has been so physical for so long that she could be mechanically flawed in high school and it didn't matter. She got her kills anyway. That's not the case now."

Herring and Amber Kaufman, No. 1 on the depth chart at middle blocker, give Hawai'i a rare double: Two state high school high jump champions. Herring is 5 foot 10, and touches 10 foot 2. But it was her remarkable versatility that convinced Prepvolleyball.com to rank her the fifth-best in the nation in her class.

Sealy moves her up, insisting Herring's ball control skills are so dynamic that she takes pressure off those around her. She can cover so much area so instinctively — and deftly — that it frees teammates to do more, improving the team exponentially. He thinks he hasn't even seen Herring's best, hinting that she sometimes "put the brakes on" as a junior because she didn't want to stand out.

Keeping her home wasn't all that tough. Herring's grades have always been good. Her dad, William Danielson, played football at UH. Mom Melody was a volleyball player at Leilehua. Herring has watched the Rainbow Wahine "basically like all my life really."

"We did our time where we sat all the way at the top and barely could see anything," she recalled. "Then we got to move down toward the bottom. We saw all the great players from Robyn Ah Mow to Heather Bown and Kim Willoughby."

It didn't hurt that, before she came rushing in from 'Ewa Beach for her first collegiate practice, Herring saw that trio start for Team USA at the Beijing Games. It was much, much more than a Saturday morning eye-opener.

"I was like, 'Look at that, the University of Hawai'i is playing the front row at the Olympics,' " Herring said. "It was awesome. It only gives us hope and inspiration of what our college can do.

"I'm very excited that now I have the opportunity to do that for the university. Who knows what's going to happen? I can only hope that there will come a time I'll get my opportunity."

Sooner or later, there is an awfully good chance it will happen. Even head coach Dave Shoji guardedly says she "could contribute right away" and "can give a team the all-around presence that you need."

Herring's game most closely resembles that of Punahou graduate Aneli Cubi-Otineru, another under-sized hitter who earned all-WAC honors in her first season at UH. Both are exceptional ballhandlers and, while Cubi-Otineru has a vast array of shots to try and beat the bigger block, Herring can rely on her outrageous jump while she works on her repertoire.

Herring calls herself a "work in progress" and worries if she will "be able to run with" her older teammates, but no one else seems to have that fear.

She encourages constructive criticism, feels "blessed" to be in Manoa and is full of a "positive spirit" only an upbeat freshman can display with no shame.

Tsuji says what you see is what you get.

"She genuinely cares for the well-being of her team," he said. "She has an idea in her mind of what she wants and she'll go after it.

"We've had numerous talks after (club) practice, when she was not happy with the way things were going and she'd ask what can I do so my teammates are as fired up as I am.

"The most special quality about her is she doesn't want to give up. She wants everybody to play at the same level she is. We need someone out there who is getting after them. Whether it's a freshman or a senior, I think people will respect the fact that she goes hard all the time and goes after every ball."NOTES

Associate coach Kari Ambrozich and her husband Eric, a former Rainbow basketball player, had their first child July 11. Trey Kekoa Ambrozich was 9 pounds, 3.6 ounces at birth, and 21 1/4 inches tall. Former Rainbow Wahine Lauren Duggins Chun is now pregnant. Ashley Watanabe has moved to Guam to run her family's Taco Del Mar franchise. Juliana Sanders is playing professionally in Germany.