In NCAA volleyball few numbers are unluckier than 17, which is where Hawai'i finds itself in the current NCAA Women's Volleyball Ratings Percentage Index. Postseason teams will be placed and picked by the NCAA committee the final weekend of November, with the help of the power rating.

The first 16 teams are seeded and placed in four regions, with the other 48 at the mercy of the committee, costs and other factors. The committee is instructed to pair teams by geographical proximity, with teams from the same conference not allowed to meet in the first two rounds.

The committee is intended to provide common sense for an unscientific system, while the RPI is intended to provide the science.

"They don't go strictly on RPI," said UH coach Dave Shoji who, like most, doesn't understand it. "If they did that there would be a lot of people yelling."

But hypothetically, his Rainbow Wahine, ranked ninth in this week's Coaches Poll, could be without a seed. That could leave them at the mercy of the committee, which could have them face somebody like Stanford, Nebraska or Penn State — the top three in the RPI — the first week.

Hawai'i isn't the only top 10 team that could be without a seed. Washington, which lost here last month but has knocked off three top-10 teams in the last two weeks, is 20th in the RPI. UCLA, which swept the 'Bows, is 31st.

Of the 329 Division I teams, only two from the Western Athletic Conference are in the top 100 — Hawai'i and New Mexico State (37). Idaho is next at No. 110 and Nevada (175) and Utah State (184) are the only other WAC teams in the top 200. Tonight's opponent, San Jose State, is No. 201 and Fresno State, Sunday's opponent, is No. 260.

That means the Rainbows' only realistic opportunity to move up is if those ahead falter. Then again, Minnesota is seventh in the RPI and it lost to Hawai'i and North Carolina (54). Purdue is ninth, and was beaten by Utah State and Michigan (32).

"I can't be worried about any numbers at this point," Shoji said. "All we can do is win as many games as possible. We can't change our schedule. It is what it is. We can't take losses back, but we've got enough good wins that we should be in good shape."

Even a loss might help. Defending national champion and top-ranked Penn State opened this season by sweeping Hawai'i and has swept all 19 opponents since. So far, the 59 points scored by the 'Bows is the most any team has earned against the Nittany Lions, who have only allowed seven teams to get to 50.

All those numbers are dizzying. All Hawai'i can really worry about is itself.

"Every day we try to get better at what we can do because we are the only ones who have control over our success," senior Tara Hittle said. "We've still got WAC teams to play."

The focus against San Jose and Fresno will be on blocking, following assignments — particularly during long rallies — and speeding up the offense. Shoji admits he isn't necessarily looking for a huge improvement in the blocking numbers, which are down to 2.35 a set.

"I'm not sure we can make a big jump there," he said. "We've just got to be a little tighter and channeling the hitter into our defense. To be honest, if the defense is good then the blocking numbers don't have to be."

In contrast, to bring the offense back to the fast pace that humbled the Huskies, the passing numbers have to improve. The team rates each pass with a zero, 1, 2 or 3 — a zero meaning it got aced, 1 if the pass allowed just one hitter as an option, 2 for two hitters and 3 for all three.

"Our passing numbers have leveled off, which we can't afford," Shoji said. "We need to get that back to 2.3 and 2.4 ideally. That way we can run our offense. Even on the road (last week) it was 2.0 and then we are not able to run our offense. We have to set it so high it just becomes a power game. We can handle that now, but I don't know whether we can beat people with the power game in the second or third round of the NCAA Tournament."

NOTES

UH is fourth nationally in kills (14.75) and assists (13.75), and 10th in hitting (.282). The team leads the WAC in hitting, assists, kills and aces (1.45). Individually, middles Nickie Thomas (.376) and Amber Kaufman (.361) are 1-2 in hitting, Dani Mafua is first in assists (11.04) and Kaufman first in aces (0.49). Jamie Houston is second in kills (4.04) and points (4.50).

San Jose State is led by senior transfer Kelly Crow, who is fifth in the WAC at 3.52 kills per set. Colleen Burke is third in hitting at .328 and libero Kristal Tsukano, a Kamehameha graduate, is seventh in digs at 3.28. Moanalua graduate Brianna Amian is averaging 2.55 kills.