Coach Dave Shoji:
"...good exposure for our team and the WAC."

Discussions about WAC women's volleyball yesterday turned to altitude, also. About how to reach the lofty heights enjoyed by the Hawaii program, seemingly year in and year out.

The task was enough to take the collective breath away from the 15 coaches who will be chasing Dave Shoji's top-ranked Wahine this season. While Shoji spoke of national-title aspirations, some of his opponents were looking at walk-ons as starters, hoping to get more than three full scholarships out of their administrations and improving last season's 0-30 record.

Of Hawaii's conference companions, three programs are starting from scratch (UNLV, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian), two have new coaches (Rice and Tulsa). A third (Air Force) has a new coach and is making the move up from Division II status.

With 16 teams, the WAC has grown into the largest conference in the country. During yesterday's teleconference call, the consensus was that the rest of the WAC has a lot of growing to do to catch Hawaii.

"Hawaii's been good for 20 years and they'll be good for the next 20 years," said Fresno State's Lindy Vivas, who was born and raised in the islands. "Having them in the league is good for all of us. They are where all of us want to be.

"They have a great team this year. And we get to open conference play in Hawaii."

Vivas is not alone when viewing the Wahine's arrival in the WAC as a mixed blessing. Mark Warner from No. 10 San Diego State and Elaine Michaelis of 18th-ranked Brigham Young are happy about the level of competition and the conference rating being raised; they also know they more than likely will fight it out for the league's runner-up trophy.

San Diego State was picked to finish second in the Pacific Division, behind Hawaii, in this week's WAC coaches' preseason poll. BYU was favored to win the Mountain Division.

The Wahine, with five returning starters and a load of bench talent, were tabbed to win it all. Nationally, Hawaii is favored to claim its fifth national title.

It would be the first NCAA women's volleyball championship for a WAC team.

"We don't know what to expect with the travel or playing at altitude," Shoji said. "No one is going to hand us the (WAC) title but my feeling is that if we play well, we'll be hard to beat."

As is happening with other sports in the WAC, the 16 teams are divided into four four-team quadrants. Quad 4 is permanently situated in the Pacific Division while the other three quadrants will rotate annually in comprising the Mountain Division and the other half of the Pacific Division.

Quad 4 is stacked this season for volleyball with Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State. The Wahine play home-and-home against the schools in the Pacific Division, their Quad 4 mates and those in Quad 2: Air Force, UNLV, Colorado State and Wyoming.

Rounding out the 16-game WAC schedule is the series with Utah.

The top four teams in each division and four at-large teams advance to the conference tournament, Nov. 26-30 in Las Vegas.

That trip is four months and 30 matches from now. Shoji's immediate thoughts were on today's flight to Illinois; Hawaii will compete in the 2nd NACWAA Classic with defending national champion Nebraska, Florida and host Illinois State Friday and Saturday.

"This tournament is good exposure for our program and the WAC," Shoji said. "We're going to be playing for the WAC, for the state of Hawaii and for all the Hawaii fans."

NOTES: Shoji said yesterday he will redshirt three of the 17 players he had in fall camp. Sitting out are sophomore blocker Lori Garber; junior hitter Leah Karratti, a transfer from Weber State; and freshman setter Keala Nihipali. He has not decided whether freshman walk-on Aven Lee, an outside hitter, will be redshirted ... Senior defensive specialist Nalani Yamashita had a walking cast on her right foot but has been cleared to make today's trip. X-rays showed she did not have stress fractures in either ankle but the membranes around the bones were inflamed. She is expected to be able to play Friday ... One of the new WAC coaches is former Hawaii All-American Deitre Collins, who takes over the UNLV program. On Collins' roster is setter Meri-de Boyer, a sophomore transfer from UC Santa Barbara. Boyer's older sister, Cheri, was an two-time All-America setter for Hawaii (1990-91).