It is the offseason for Rainbow Wahine volleyball and, typically, pretty much everything is in a state of flux — from recruiting to scheduling to a spring exhibition with Nebraska.

Hawai'i finished last season ranked seventh among the 329 NCAA Division I teams, with its first 30-win season since 2004. The only freshman recruit coming in is Kristiana Tuaniga, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker who hit .647 for Carson (Calif.) High School as a senior.

Three recruits from the Class of 2010 have also verbally committed, but cannot sign a letter of intent or be discussed by UH coaches until the fall.

Emily Hartong is a 6-1 middle from the Mizuno Long Beach Volleyball Club, where Tuaniga played last year. Hartong has won a Sunset League championship with Los Alamitos High and her 16 club team took second at last year's Junior Olympics.

"She is the sweetest, kindest kid. The Islands will fall in love with her," said JP Calderon, her Mizuno coach. "She's a really tough kid, but has a sweet demeanor."

Calderon, who played and coached for Long Beach State, has coached Hartong's club team for five years. He praises her work ethic, natural leadership skills, quickness, exceptional jumping ability and quick hands, and plans to train her on the outside for college.

He said Hartong has always wanted to go to Hawai'i, in part because he tells stories about how "a normal match in Hawai'i feels the same as a final four."

"There's a real family atmosphere there," Calderon said. "They take players in and treat them well. Emily likes that, and she wants to play on a team that can win a national championship. Not many schools can say that."

The Rainbow Wahine are also expecting 6-1 hitter/middle Kaela Goodman and 5-8 setter Mita Uiato in the fall of 2010. The two played together the last four years for Laguna Beach Volleyball Club. Goodman, who was born here, announced her commitment earlier while Uiato recently decided to come in and try to follow in the footsteps of all-region setter Dani Mafua, who has two years left.

"A sleeper is the best way to describe her," Laguna director Michael Soylular said of Uiato. "She works hard and is a little shy, but a heck of a player. Dani is a great player and Mita has soft hands like her; a really nice touch. She is deceptively quick and jumps really well ... Mita plays much higher than her size. She is not a detriment on the block."

Soylular characterizes Uiato as "a volleyball junkie in a good way" who has hung around his program for nearly a decade, following an uncle who coached and a sister who played. He is convinced she can make the change from setting a "classic" high-ball offense to Hawai'i's quicker tempo and promises to work with her on it the next year. Her 14-under team was ranked No. 1 out of 273 teams in 2007; her 16-under team is third.

"Hawai'i doesn't just offer anybody," Soylular said. "A setter is the foundation of your team. She touches the second ball almost every play. I think Dave (Shoji) has a good eye for setters. She was recruited by a lot of top Pac-10 schools, but once she heard 'Hawai'i' it was a done deal."

UH is still waiting to confirm a March 19 exhibition against Nebraska, tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Cornhuskers were the only team to take a set off Penn State last season, extending PSU to five in a final-four semifinal.

The school is also waiting to announce its 2009 schedule, with football's late scheduling the primary culprit. The Rainbow Wahine have tournaments scheduled the first three weeks, with opponents such as Stanford (No. 2 in the final 2008 poll), Texas (4), Cal (6) and UCLA (8). Hawai'i will play Pepperdine twice the fourth week, before going into its Western Athletic Conference schedule.

The 'Bows have won the last 11 Western Athletic Conference championships. Shoji, with 984 wins heading into his 35th year as head coach, should get his 1,000th this year.

Hawai'i is also waiting for confirmation to announce its participation in April's fourth annual Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship. The format has been tweaked since it started by taking graduating seniors, including Hawai'i's Victoria Prince, and following them through training camp for a reality TV show.

Now, eight schools are invited with each school represented by four doubles teams. Texas won last year's title in San Diego, defeating USC. That was staged by the CBS College Sports Network, the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the AVP tour.

The format is similar to "sand volleyball," an "emerging sport for women" being considered by the NCAA. Better known in the Olympics and on the pro tour as "beach volleyball," it gained its collegiate name because of popularity in places like Omaha, Neb., and Wisconsin, far from coastal beaches.

Indoor volleyball is the No. 2 NCAA women's sport, with all but about 70 of the 1,000-plus schools fielding teams. According to information presented by AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer last year, 47 percent of the top 36 female players on the pro beach tour are under 6-feet tall, compared to only 33 percent on the Division I All-America team.

NOTES

Hawai'i's Pi'i Aiu, who had been Colorado's head coach since 1997, resigned. He was the winningest coach in school history at 199-154. William "Ashley" Hardee was hired as head coach at North Dakota after assisting at New Mexico State the last eight years.

Punahou graduate Lindsey Berg, a two-time Olympian who helped Team USA to a silver medal in Beijing, helped ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange Friday.

Several Hawai'i players are into their pro seasons. Heather Bown and Kim Willoughby are in Italy, Lily Kahumoku and Therese Crawford in Puerto Rico, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos in Switzerland and Juliana Sanders in Germany.