In a perfect tennis paradise, Hawai'i would re-create the magic of winning last year's Western Athletic Conference Tennis Championship this week at home for all those who missed the program's defining moment. Only trouble is, the WAC has lots of teams capable of causing imperfections.

The third-seeded Rainbow Warriors open the championships tomorrow at 3 p.m. against sixth-seeded Idaho at the UH Tennis Complex. A year ago, the 'Bows went in seeded fourth and took out Idaho, top-seeded Boise State and second-seeded Fresno State to win their first WAC title and advance to their first 64-team NCAA Tournament.

The setting, aside from the start differences between sites — Manoa and land-locked New Mexico — seems familiar. Hawai'i again hardly appears intimidating, with a 7-9 record that includes losses at FSU and BSU the past three weeks. The Broncos are again seeded first, and ranked 20th nationally, with junior Clancy Shields No. 26 in singles and two others in the Top 100. The Bulldogs are again No. 2, ranked 41st and armed with senior Rudolf Siwy at No. 61 in singles.

The 'Bows are ranked 68th and boast current WAC Player of the Week Dennis Lajola, No. 60 in singles. The sophomore from 'Aiea upset the country's fourth-ranked player last week at USC, giving him four wins over ranked Pac-10 players.

"He could be the Pac-10 Player of the Year," UH coach John Nelson joked, but he is serious about this weekend. He won't even discuss defending — "Don't believe in it, that was last year, we went for it then, we'll go for it now" — and he knows five WAC teams are ranked.

He expects this weekend to be a wild "chess match on wheels" with serves up to 120 mph and anything possible between now and Sunday's final.

"The guys have got to stay disciplined, have the courage to do the right things," Nelson said. "They have to go after it. Last year we had to win to go to the NCAAs. It's the same now."

The 'Bows have gone 25-53 in this tournament since joining the WAC in 1980. They never finished higher than fifth until 2006 and never seemed to be a legitimate threat until Lajola, Andreas Weber and Sascha Heinemann — the last three WAC Freshmen of the Year — anchored last year's shocker.