Hawai'i said its final goodbyes to the 2008 Rainbow Wahine volleyball team at its annual banquet yesterday. It was not an awards banquet — the team does not give awards — but rather a celebration of a 31-4 season that ended in an NCAA regional final, with UH ranked seventh in the country in the final poll.

The afternoon also provided updates on Rainbow Wahine past and present, including the birth of Lauren Duggins Chun's first child (Ezekiel) and the Victoria Prince-Kevin Federline romance that has celebrity watchers fascinated.

UH-Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw even contributed trivia, announcing that senior Jamie Houston graduated from the same Alabama high school (Huntsville) as she and husband Bill — "but decades apart."

Hawai'i had its highest final ranking since 2003 and won 30-plus matches for the first time since 2004. After winning their 11th consecutive Western Athletic Conference championship at home, the Rainbow Wahine spent the last two weeks on the road in the NCAA Tournament.

They won their NCAA subregional in Los Angeles, becoming the first team to sweep USC in its 3-year-old Galen Center. After beating Purdue in a regional semifinal, they fell to second-ranked Stanford in the elite eight at Colorado State.

Hawa'i, the only revenue-producing volleyball program in the country, was the national leader in attendance for the 15th straight year — every season since it moved into Stan Sheriff Center in 1994. The UH average of 5,944 was nearly 1,200 more than runner-up Nebraska, but 500 less than last year.

UH had not averaged fewer than 6,000 since 1994, when it played the first half of its season in 1,800-seat Klum Gym. The 2007 attendance was the first time UH averaged fewer than 7,000 since 2001.

The Rainbow Wahine have only one freshman recruit coming in — 6-foot-2 middle blocker Kristiana Tuaniga, whose cousin Gus plays for the UH men. Amanda Simmons, a 6-2 sophomore middle on the 2008 team, transferred to Louisville. Simmons was a Fab 50 recruit in 2007, but played just part-time in 24 matches at UH.

UH coach Dave Shoji said the team could bring in two transfers, with an urgent need for depth at outside hitter, and possibly another middle. He needs 16 wins to hit 1,000 for his career, but it could be a struggle: Of UH's 11 pre-conference matches in 2009, nine will be against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, including No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Texas, No. 6 Cal and No. 8 UCLA.

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