DENVER — It is a weird, wonderful volleyball world if you are a Shoji this week in Fort Collins, Colo.

Should sixth-ranked Hawai'i push past 17th-ranked Purdue in Friday's NCAA Championship regional semifinal, and second-ranked Stanford take out 11th-ranked Florida, there will be a Shoji Family Reunion Saturday that only an 'ohana immersed in the sport could love.

Dave Shoji coaches the Rainbow Wahine. Daughter Cobey is Stanford's Director of Volleyball Operations, while sons Kawika and Erik are among the six Hawai'i players on the Cardinal men's team.

When the brackets were announced, with the Rainbows and Stanford near the end, Cobey figured it was inevitable they would be together. "I just took a deep breath and thought, 'Oh man, here we go!' " she recalled.

Kawika, an 'Iolani graduate and Cardinal junior, found it "kind or ironic considering Dad's kids are all on The Farm."

Both boys plan to join their sister and father in Fort Collins. The opportunity is too perfect, and rare, to pass up.

Stanford (28-3) is seeded second in the NCAA Tournament, and desperate for a seventh national title after falling in the last two championship finals. In 2007 national player of the year Foluke Akinradewo, and All-Americans Cynthia Barboza and Alix Klineman, it probably has three future Olympians.

The Rainbow Wahine (30-3) haven't lost in two months and swept 12th-ranked Southern Cal at USC Saturday in a match Shoji characterized as "monumental." Son Erik, a Punahou graduate and Stanford freshman, came to Los Angeles to watch with teammate Jordan Inafuku, a Kamehameha alum.

Erik knew the game plan and was thoroughly impressed at how the 'Bows' played it out, calling their defense the best he had seen and his father's reaction the funniest.

"He was jumping around when it ended, high-fiving, pushing around the coaches," Erik recalled. "I thought it was hysterical. But it was a big-time second-round match against a big-time school in USC. The fact we beat them in three at their home gym was a really big deal."

The "we" is not a mistake. Kawika and Erik still unabashedly and passionately pull for the Rainbow Wahine, though they are extremely close to Cobey, go to every Stanford match and have friends on both teams. Erik says he is still a "die-hard Hawai'i fan" and Kawika admits, "I will never be able to root against the Rainbow Wahine — it's impossible."

He calls the chance of a Stanford-Hawai'i throwdown for a final four slot the "best thing that could happen this weekend ... it would be a little weird, but it would be the best thing."

Cobey is a Punahou graduate who played for UNLV and Michigan and got her master's in athletic administration from North Carolina in 2004. She is in a tougher position.

"It's not an easy situation," she admits, "but I'm a professional and I will do my job, which is to support the Stanford program. It's just unfortunate that we might have to play each other with so much at stake. It's one of those matches that I would hate to see either side lose.

"We've played in the preseason before and will again (next year), and those matches don't bother me, but when something as big as the final four is on the line, that makes it tough. Both teams have worked so hard to get to this point, I hope it's a great volleyball match and I think it's safe to say I would be happy if either Hawai'i or Stanford advanced to the final four. My heart is always with Hawai'i, but my life is at Stanford now and we're not ready for our season to be over."

Neither is 10th-seeded Purdue (26-8) nor 15th-seeded Florida (27-3), which might ease Cobey's dilemma. But, for the sake of argument, analyzing a Hawai'i-Stanford match is always entertaining. The Rainbows are the only team with a series edge on the Cardinal (17-12), but Stanford has won eight of the last nine. UH leads the postseason series 3-2, but all the wins came in the 1980s.

All the Shojis agree both teams are peaking, and the one that controls the ball best will win. Hawai'i has to pass well to run its offense at a sprint and isolate its hitters away from Stanford's much bigger blockers. If the 'Bows' serving can't force the Cardinal away from the net, Hawai'i might not be capable of stopping Stanford's three-headed offensive monster.

Shoji will get an ear full from his sons if the match actually happens. They were his team's harshest critics when they lived in Hawai'i. Letting him have it from 2,500 miles away, based only on online coverage, has not nearly been as satisfying. They have made up for the lost critique time by giving Cobey their views on her team.

Shoji sends Erik match video so he can keep up on a delay basis. "No matter what, we always have something to tell him that they can do better," said Erik, characterized as a "volleyball nerd" by his sister. "He can get angry, but usually he takes it pretty well."

This weekend, the boys will be back on his case in real time.

"I haven't given him as hard a time because I can't watch the matches," Kawika said regretfully. "I'll be able to give him feedback when I get to Colorado."

NOTES

Saturday's regional final is scheduled to be broadcast live, at 4 p.m. Hawai'i time, on ESPNU. There is no television coverage of Friday's matches planned.

Punahou graduate Spencer McLachlin, a junior on the Stanford men's team, has been dating Cynthia Barboza, an All-American on the women's team. Kawika Shoji is seeing the sister of USC freshman Kendall Bateman, who started for the Trojans at setter last weekend.

Stanford is recruiting the daughter of Gunnvor Aase in Norway. Aase was the first Rainbow Wahine from Europe and played backup setter in 1986.