Back when Hawai'i shattered Illinois' volleyball dreams in the late '80's, the Rainbow Wahine were feared. Now they are the wild card wonders of the NCAA Championship, long on tradition but short on recent adulation.

They won their fourth national title in 1987, sweeping the Fighting Illini in an NCAA semifinal. Hawai'i fell to Texas in the 1988 final, two nights after taking out Illinois again.

UH has been back to the final four just four more times. There has been no fifth title, and it has lost its last four on the final weekend.

When the teams play Friday, at 3 p.m. HST, in the Stanford Regional, the eighth-ranked Illini (26-5) will be favored by virtue of their No. 5 seed and runner-up finish in the big-time Big Ten.

The third-ranked Rainbows (30-2) have a winning streak that goes back three months and a 12th consecutive WAC championship. It added up to a No. 12 seed, which not only upset Hawai'i.

"They should have been seeded higher. Everyone talked about how they got (jerked around) with the seed," said Illinois first-year coach Kevin Hambly. "But I feel like we got (jerked around) too because now we have to play them."

The winner of Friday's Sweet 16 opener takes on sixth-ranked Stanford (23-7) or 12th-ranked Michigan (26-9) Saturday at Maples Pavilion for a place in next week's final four.

The 'Bows beat Stanford, seeded fourth, back in September. The Cardinal and Michigan, seeded 13th, both went five sets Saturday to get here.

Hawai'i came close, beating 15th-ranked USC with a last-gasp charge in the fourth set. Illinois also won in four, taking out 23rd-ranked Dayton. The Illini had a jaw-dropping 18 1/2 blocks, stuffing Dayton into .000 hitting the final three sets.

But, Hambly insists, this is not a typically tall, intimidating Big Ten squad.

Junior outside hitter Laura DeBruler is just 5 feet 10 — same as Hawai'i's Kanani Danielson. DeBruler was a second-team All-American last year and ranks 13th nationally now, at 4.5 kills a set. Danielson, a third-team All-American as a freshman, is 33rd at 4.3. Both are hitting .300-plus, or 50 points better than last season.

Kyllie McCulley, the Illini's only healthy senior, is the other left side at 5-11, same as UH senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru. Both teams also have 5-10 all-conference junior setters (Dani Mafua and Hillary Heen) and 6-3 freshman middles (Brittany Hewitt and Erin Johnson).

The other middle position is a study in contrasts. Illinois junior Johannah Bangert is 6-1 and trying to become the first to lead the country in blocking in consecutive seasons, averaging 1.61 per set. "She just has a knack for it," Hambly said.

But, she has just nine aces and 144 kills, and is hitting below .300.

At 6-feet even, UH senior Amber Kaufman is fourth nationally with a .434 hitting percentage. She has 254 kills and 40 aces, but averages less than a block.

Hambly sees Friday's match as being all about ball control. He believes his team might have the edge blocking, but the 'Bows are better passers.

"They've got to be the best serving and passing team in the country," said Hambly, 36, who was Illinois' assistant the past three seasons and the top Team USA assistant at the 2004 Olympics. "USC was just crushing balls and Hawai'i was making it look easy. They couldn't get Hawai'i out of system. I charted their pass-receive and they had one pass that was not perfect. That's incredible."

The former BYU All-American also has high compliments for the Rainbow Wahine's savvy and high-level simplicity. What he and the rest of the country wonder about is how they will react to a steady onslaught — something the WAC was not able to provide.

"You really don't know who you are until you've been in a fight," Hambly said. "We've been in lots of fights. We have a good idea of who we are as a team and who will step up at the end of matches. We've developed a level of toughness. We are really good at 23-all. We've been in a lot of 23-all sets. There is no panic."

The Illini played eight ranked teams this year — only one outside the conference — and beat all but Penn State. Florida State was not ranked when it beat Illinois in September. The Illini out-blocked Big Ten opponents nearly 2 to 1 (207-123). Hawai'i's challenge will be to control the ball and avoid the roof.

"They run a blocking system and if teams don't attack them in the right place they will block a lot of balls," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We have to beat them in the seam of the block or wide at the pin.

"We just have to hit smart and be in system. We can beat them if we're in system, but they are definitely bigger on the right side than we've seen all year."

Hawai'i's matches will be broadcast live on ESPN/1420 AM. There is no TV coverage of Friday's matches, but ESPNU will carry Saturday's regional final live at 6:30 p.m. HST.

NOTES

Crowds were eye-catching in their absence at last week's subregionals. Particularly if you are Hawai'i, which will lead the country in attendance for the 16th straight year — averaging 6,423 — but did not host for the sixth consecutive season.

Nebraska filled its arena with just over 4,000 each night and top-ranked Penn State, trying to become the first team to win three straight NCAA titles, averaged about 2,900. Colorado State and Iowa State got 2,700 each night and second-seeded Texas 2,100. No one else hit 2,000, or came close.

Third-seeded Florida State averaged 799 for its two matches. Eighth-seeded UCLA was blessed when just 506 watched it get upset by Baylor. LSU, seeded 15th and upset by Texas A&M, averaged 827. Tennessee drew 507 the second night.

After the first week, five of the six Big 12 teams and four-of-six Big Ten teams are still alive. Six of the eight Pac-10 teams are cleaning out their lockers. The SEC is the only other conference with more than one team left. Florida State was the only one of five ACC teams to reach a regional.