The Hawaii-Southern Cal rivalry was once one of the most heated in women's collegiate volleyball.
Three times between 1977 and 1980, the Trojans kept the Wahine out of the national championship match, the last in 1980 when the Women of Troy upset then-No. 1 Hawaii in the regional final.
The Wahine exacted a measure of revenge in 1981 when they rebounded from an 0-2 deficit to pull out a 3-2 victory over the two-time defending national champs.
The rivalry has cooled in the past decade, with the two schools meeting just twice since 1991. Amazingly, in 30 matches with the Trojans, the Wahine have never played on the USC campus.
That will change tomorrow when Hawaii takes a 16-14 series lead into venerable North Gym.
The top-ranked Wahine (12-0) will also put a 10-0 road win streak on the line against the No. 15 Trojans (7-2).
"I think we're going to be in for a heck of a match," said Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji, whose team will also travel to Utah for its first-ever WAC road game Saturday. "SC is pretty physical and attacks the ball probably better than anyone we've faced so far."
Shoji is almost as concerned with Southern Cal's two foreign standouts - senior hitter Vesna Dragicevic and sophomore blocker Jasmina Marinkovic - as he is with the site of tomorrow's match.
The 1,000-seat North Gym is little more than a refurbished Klum Gym. Shoji disliked the place when he was coaching the Hawaii men's teams, who never won there in nine seasons.
Neither team is coming off a particularly impressive weekend. Hawaii had a lackluster performance in its sweep of San Jose State Saturday afternoon; Southern Cal was upended by unranked Oregon State, 3-1, Friday night.
One bright spot for the Trojans in the loss to Oregon State was the play of Marinkovic, the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last season. The 6-footer from Serbia had a season-high 21 kills against the Beavers and leads her team in six offensive categories. SC's other foreign player, Dragicevic from Yugoslavia, added 21 kills against Oregon State. The 6-2 hitter was an academic casualty last year.
Shoji continued to preach parity, pointing to the upsets of last week.
Among them was Pacific's shocker over then-No. 2 Stanford, 3-1, Friday; UOP then fell to unranked Cal State Sacramento, 3-1, Saturday.
"SC could very well be our first loss," he said. "If we don't play really well, we're not going to win."
Tomorrow: Hawaii (12-0) at Southern Cal (7-2), 4 p.m. HST.
Saturday: Hawaii at Utah (7-5), noon HST.
Broadcasts: Live on KCCN radio (1420-AM).
Series: Hawaii leads USC, 16-14.