Barring an upset of major proportions tomorrow night, the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team will pick up a nice, neat victory over Fresno State on ESPNU — and take a step downward.

Oh, chances are the Rainbow Wahine will still retain their No. 3 ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Association weekly poll, of course, but their standing in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is something else.

"Every time we play in the WAC, it (the RPI) is going down," coach Dave Shoji acknowledged of an RPI that was at No. 22 — and crumpling.

What matches against UCLA, Texas, California and Stanford helped do early for the Rainbow Wahine's RPI, the NCAA measuring stick that purports to measure strength of schedule, outings against Fresno State, Nevada and San Jose State — the stops on the current three-game, six-day road trip — are helping to undo.

The RPI is an element of the NCAA's selection and seeding process and can vary wildly from the polls, which reflect coaches' voting. Just how far is illustrated by the most recent (Oct. 25) printout. Florida State was 19-2 and No. 2 in the RPI while being No. 17 in the AVCA poll. UH, which was 18-2, was No. 3 in the poll and No. 22 in the RPI. Care to guess who might get an edge in seeding come tournament time should it come to that?

The difference is that the Seminoles' Atlantic Coast Conference schedule pumps them up while the the WAC deflates UH. WAC teams are either not performing well, not scheduling well or both. Fresno State's RPI was No. 208 with an 11-10 record, San Jose State is No. 243 with a 1-18 mark and Nevada No. 192 at 7-15.

Curiously, you would think that with the population, not to mention club teams and opponents to which they have geographical access, Fresno State and San Jose State would have both better records and schedules. Fresno State, with its wealth of potential — facilities, finances and fan support — especially.

Yet the Bulldogs, who once were UH's closest thing to a challenger in the WAC, aren't even the top program in their hometown. Tiny Fresno Pacific of the NAIA has that distinction.

The Bulldogs made three NCAA tournament appearances under Honolulu's Lindy Vivas, who recruited locally. But since her intrigue-filled firing in 2004, the Bulldogs haven't managed to finish with a winning record. Progress is being made under the latest coach, Lauren Netherby-Sewell, but there is much ground to be made up.

Meanwhile, UH's competitive edge and RPI suffer even while the Rainbow Wahine blow away their WAC opponents.