LOUISVILLE, Ken. — For all the huge hits and big blocks people remember, the fate of this year's Rainbow Wahine volleyball team might lie in the foundation of the program's instant success. Back when parity in women's volleyball was a pipe dream and the handful of legitimate contenders towered over Hawai'i, the 'Bows simply dug teams to death.

They have rediscovered that blast from the past, in an extremely detailed high-tech defense for 2007.

The coaching staff made a radical move a month into a season that started 3-3. Hawai'i switched to an unorthodox defensive rotation that makes full use of Jamie Houston's quick reflexes and the instinctive fluidity of Tara Hittle, Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Liz Ka'aihue.

The 'Bows have been out-dug just three times this year — the jarring collapses against Oregon State and UCLA the first two weeks, and in a five-game win over Wichita State that came nearly three months ago.

Soon after, head coach Dave Shoji switched Houston to left back on defense. He plugged Hittle, the right-side hitter, into the critical middle back defensive position; most teams have the two left-sides and libero handle the bulk of the ballhandling.

Teams also usually have players in the same defensive position. But Ka'aihue, a freshman, now plays all three slots (left, middle and right back) depending on the rotation and Otineru, a transfer, plays two. "We're all over the place ... ," Shoji said. "Our alignment is nothing like anyone else in the country."

The unorthodox look also shakes up the 'Bows' passing, with Houston available for serve-reception, but Hittle, Otineru and Ka'aihue handling nearly all of it.

"We're giving players a little more responsibility," Shoji said. "We have to do this to beat the good teams. We have to be more detailed. In the past we relied on a pretty static, basic defense and played the same way against just about everybody."

Hittle and the first-year players have the instincts and "volleyball IQ" to make the "awkward" formations work. It also allows game plans to grow more complicated, with a unique defense for every opposing hitter.

"Some hit angle or down the line, some high off the (blockers') hands, or low into the seam," Otineru said, ticking off options. "Sometimes it just depends on their armswing."

Players shift before every new server and review the new attacker's quirks in the time it takes the referee to whistle. "Sometimes I forget," said Ka'aihue, the freshman libero, "and Dave goes nuts."

It hasn't happened much. The Rainbow Wahine are averaging nearly 18 digs a game, highest in five years. At the WAC Tournament it was nearly 20, with all four designated backrow players at 3-plus digs apiece and setter Stephanie Brandt just under.

Coaches most familiar with the 'Bows call their defense this year's most devastating weapon. Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, who played against UH in the 1980s, described it as "the Hawai'i defense of old."

After the Rainbow Wahine set a school rally-scoring record with a remarkable 110 digs at New Mexico State, Aggie coach Mike Jordan was in awe. "They pulled balls back from the dead," he said. "The quality of their defense was fantastic."

It was the difference in both five-game wins over NMSU. It will dictate how far ninth-ranked Hawai'i goes in its 15th consecutive NCAA Tournament, which begins tomorrow against Tennessee State.

The winner of that match plays the winner of tomorrow's second match between Middle Tennessee and Louisville, at the Kentucky International Convention Center Saturday.

Last time Ka'aihue saw Louisville — also the first time she saw Louisville, in the fifth match of this season — she set a school record for digs in a four-game match with 31. Eight matches into her collegiate career she became only the second Rainbow Wahine (the other is former Olympian Teee Williams) with more than one 30-dig match.

Her precociousness, Otineru's innate gifts and Hittle's health and remarkable talent for getting to the ball have given Hawai'i back the ballhandling it rode to four national titles.

But, it took time and imagination to pull together — "We knew we were better than the way we were playing earlier," Shoji said — and it still has its scary moments.

The 'Bows also know that even if they can frustrate opposing offenses, they still have to bury the ball themselves. That has rarely been easy, and won't get any easier 40,000 miles into the season, and staring into the start of the NCAA Tournament.

The goal is to get to ARCO Arena in Sacramento for the final four in two weeks. The road is filled with potholes, sub-freezing temperatures, All-America opponents and, if Hawai'i can get out of this subregional, the likes of third-seeded Penn State and sixth-seeded Washington next week in State College, Pa.

The way there is the same as it's been since before they were born, according to Otineru and Ka'aihue. It is what Shoji tells them every time they morph into this unorthodox defense: "All he says is," Otineru grins, "don't let the ball hit the floor."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.