Everything about the NCAA volleyball subregional Hawai'i won last weekend at Long Beach State was big.

This week is bigger still.

The 12th-seeded — and 11th-ranked — Rainbow Wahine find themselves in rare tropical air this time of year. This is their ninth straight regional, but they have spent most of the last five postseasons in distant, often frigid, places.

Hawai'i opens against fifth-seeded Southern California on Friday at about 7 p.m. in the Stan Sheriff Center. Fourth-seeded UCLA plays 13th-seeded Oklahoma in the first match. The winners play at 6:30 p.m. Saturday for a place in the final four.

To get here, the 'Bows had to overcome all kinds of obstacles. They lost their ballhandling early, three starters to injury about the same time and their confidence soon after, when New Mexico State ended Hawai'i's NCAA-record eight-year conference winning streak.

UH has won 15 straight since, roofing its way through the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and LBSU subregional. The Rainbow Wahine clobbered Oregon on Friday, in a match more one-sided than most WAC meetings, then buried The Beach on Saturday.

"Those games were huge," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I think winning at Long Beach validated that we are a top-16 team. Where we came from, I thought we had to do that to prove ourselves. I'm sure people have doubted us and we've doubted ourselves, so it was huge."

UH sold nearly 2,000 regional ticket packages since Friday. Yesterday, officials reported that 5,100 have been sold in all.

The Sooners are the surprise of this subregional. This week's No. 12 ranking is the program's highest ever. Oklahoma rose to No. 13 in 1988 — the only other year it was ranked. This is the Sooners' first Sweet 16 since.

Santiago Restrepo, Big 12 Coach of the Year, has guided OU to the best turnaround in conference history. The Sooners were 7-22 a year ago.

UCLA, with all-conference players Katie Carter, Nana Meriwether and Nellie Spicer, is also celebrating a revival. This is the first time the Bruins have earned a top-four seed since 1994, when they last reached the final four.

USC, which won NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003, is trying to return after losing to Pepperdine in the second round last year. The Trojans swept Ole Miss and Brigham Young last week after finishing fourth in the Pac-10. They split conference series with second-seeded Stanford and sixth-seeded Washington this season, but lost to UCLA twice.

USC setter Taylor Carico is the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Teammates Asia Kaczor, from Poland, and Debora Seilhamer, from Puerto Rico, made the all-conference team.

This is the first time the Rainbow Wahine will play USC in the postseason since they overcame an 0-2 deficit to win the 1982 NCAA championship.

The 'Bows have moved up to fifth nationally in blocking, at 3.52 a game. They averaged better than five a game the past two weeks, with junior middle Kari Gregory at more than 2.6. Gregory is ninth nationally at 1.63.

That blocking surge will be tested by the Trojans, who average 6 feet 2 across the net.

NOTES

The NCAA probably won't announce final details of television coverage for the Honolulu Regional until tomorrow, according to a spokesperson. Both matches could be broadcast live here, but for now — and to encourage ticket sales — there is no information on Friday coverage and the only sure thing for Saturday is that it will be on ESPNU, which is not available on Oceanic Time Warner, the largest cable company here.

The NCAA also had detail problems during last week's opening rounds. Its Web site had incorrect scores for more than one match — including having Oklahoma getting swept by Oral Roberts in the first round — and Associated Press was running the schedule with regional sites "TBA." The predetermined sites were named months ago.

An all-session pass for the Florida regional costs $15 — $1 less than it costs to go to one night here.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.