LAS VEGAS — Third-ranked Hawai'i streaks into the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament, which starts tomorrow at The Orleans Arena, on a 22-match winning streak. All it can think about is going faster.

The top-seeded Rainbow Wahine (26-2) have a bye in the first round and play the winner of the Nevada (No. 4)-Fresno State (No. 5) match Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.

The 'Bows are bent on winning their 12th consecutive WAC Championship. They also would like to bump up their national RPI, which is at No. 21, before the NCAA announces pairings next Sunday. It won't be easy in a conference where the next-best team (New Mexico State) is No. 77 and no one else is in the top 160.

Hawai'i will attempt to hurry through it all, anxious to keep its undersized attack a beat ahead of the block in preparation for the NCAA Tournament. If the goal is final four and beyond, the 'Bows will have to beat opponents, nearly all of whom are taller, to the punch.

That is pretty much all in the hands of setter Dani Mafua, whose touch with angles, trajectory and tempo might be the 'Bows' defining element.

The Rainbow Wahine are hitting .322, second-best in the country and third-best in their history. They lead the WAC by more than 100 points and have four hitters in the top five.

At .458 — third-best in the country this week — Amber Kaufman is in the process of shattering Hawai'i's season record (.417). Freshman middle Brittany Hewitt is at .357 and hitters Kanani Danielson (.337) and Aneli Cubi-Otineru (.319) are 50 points higher than last season.

Without the quick offense Hawai'i has been implementing and fine-tuning ever since All-America high-ball hitters Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku left, there is no final four.

"It would be like a football team lining up and trying to play smash-mouth football against a bigger team as opposed to a spread offense," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "That's how teams like Texas Tech can beat a Texas (No. 1 in national RPI). You can't just line up and play the same game against Texas and Penn State. You've got to go faster. That's the only way we can win, really the only way we can beat any good team because we're small."

The rumor is, every starting hitter on top-ranked Penn State can touch 10 feet 4. For most teams, having one player at that altitude is a rarity. Hawai'i has Kaufman, an undersized middle at 6-0 who is an NCAA high jump All-American, and Danielson, also undersized outside at 5-10, and a state high school high jump champion as a Kamehameha senior.

Cubi-Otineru and Hewitt don't come close and neither does Stephanie Ferrell since breaking her ankle in April. These Rainbows need to fly under the radar to get in the final four and Mafua, an honorable mention All-American last season as a sophomore, is the pilot.

Her skills have blossomed since the then-basketball player took up volleyball at Mid-Pacific Institute, and started setting as a senior. The quick attack is in her hands — and feet and feel.

She has to chase down bad passes, get her feet set so "I have that ball on the sweet spot every time" and shoot the ball low and outside. She must get the ball in the hitter's hand before the block closes or gets over the net.

It is all about rhythm and tempo. For this down-to-earth offense to work, attackers almost have to hit the ball on its way up. There is no long arc. The ball shoots out of Mafua's hands faster and she flicks it at what sometimes looks like the shortest distance between two points — a straight line.

"To run our system you have to have a great setter," Shoji says. "Dani's release is really pure. The ball comes out really nice and fast and with the right trajectory."

The idea is to go so fast the opposing middle blocker must commit early to a hitter, leaving other hitters isolated or creating seams in the block.

"Hitters always get the glory because they are the last to touch it, but that's not what I'm looking for," Mafua says. "Creating good situations for the offense is fun for me. I enjoy strategizing and trick plays, too.

"I love being a setter, I've grown to love it. You control every play, you are part of every play. You know when a hitter gets a kill you are part of that."

There are times when Mafua is so mysterious and efficient her hitters are left alone. Those are her finest moments and far from what she felt as a redshirt freshman in 2006.

"She's literally had to change everything since she got here," said associate coach Mike Sealy. "Her mechanics, how she sets, how she sets her feet everything. They say it takes 10,000 repetitions to be proficient at anything. ... she's got to be getting close."

Sealy is working on Mafua being more deliberate with her delivery — "having control of the ball rather than having the ball control me." He is adding elements constantly, the latest having Mafua fake a second-hit attack then turn her body in mid-air and set the ball.

"When you see a setter doing that, you're talking Misty May," says UH associate coach Kari Ambrozich, alluding to the Olympic gold medalist. "It will be very exciting to see how she develops."

Along with offense, Mafua's anticipation, block and defense have also developed and the 'Bows are at times so balanced it is as if she is keeping tally.

It helps to have three coaches who were all setters. It can also be a bit confusing. She has the personality to deal with it.

"She is a hard, hard worker," Shoji says. "She's really open to coaching. She takes it all in whether it's me or Kari or Mike. She gets a LOT of feedback. Her willingness to do that she knew she was new to it at first and had so much to learn so she was coachable. She still is."

NOTES

Senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who played her freshman year at Southern Idaho, needs 44 kills to reach 1,000 for her UH career. ... Former UH volleyball player Cayley Thurlby, now training for the beach tour, was at Thursday's Rainbow Wahine basketball game at UCLA. Former basketball players Christen Roper, Karena Greeny and Tiffany Fujimoto were also there. Greeny brought her infant son and Fujimoto had her two children in tow. ... Kari Gregory, Thurlby's teammate at UH, accepted an offer to play volleyball professionally in Switzerland.