University of Hawai'i senior middle hitter Amber Kaufman and senior outside hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru will receive some much-needed rest early this week as the Rainbow Wahine prepare for this weekend's NCAA Regional semifinals.

Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji said both will sit out of "a couple" practices to nurse nagging injuries. Kaufman suffers from an abdominal strain and Cubi-Otineru a tweaked knee.

"Both players are going to play on Friday," Shoji insists. "We're just trying to minimize their discomfort. But there's no way they are coming out of the line-up."

The 12th-seeded Rainbow Wahine (30-2) face fifth-seeded Illinois (26-5) in the Regional semifinal at Stanford's Maple Pavilion on Friday. The winner advances to play the winner of Stanford-Michigan in Saturday's Regional final.

Kaufman has dealt with the strain for about a month, so the injury is "not brand new, but still bothersome," Shoji said.

"The only thing she can do at this point is rest," Shoji said. "It just kind of triggered during the game, and there's no way to predict what's going to happen with it."

Cubi-Otineru's knee has been a season-long hindrance. Like Kaufman, it is "nothing new" but still bothersome, Shoji said.

"They are pretty tough kids and they are going to play; it's nothing that could injure them permanently or anything like that," Shoji said.

While they rest, coaches will begin to game plan for Illinois. Shoji expected to receive game tape of the Illini yesterday, and will begin breaking it down.

"We know some things about them already," Shoji said. "They are just a typical, tough, talented Big 10 team. Illinois is small on the left, big on the right and big in the middle. It's not a huge team, so I think we match up favorable. We're pretty much the same size."

The Rainbow Wahine, ranked No. 3 in the AVCA poll, depart tomorrow for Stanford for their eighth and potentially ninth straight matches on the road.

The Illini are ranked No. 8.

The Rainbow Wahine are feeling confident, especially after their four-set win over Southern California in a match that they "played really well for two-thirds of the match," Shoji said. "Even Game 4 we should have won easier than we did, but things get hectic at the end of matches and things happen, but I think you throw Game 3 out and we had a really great match."