RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Victoria Prince leads the Western Athletic Conference in hitting percentage at .486.

Rainbow Wahine
get serious opponent

Hawaii and Rice will meet
in a battle of division leaders

This is not going to be a lay-up drill, something to keep the team loose. This is not last week, where the warm-up routine for No. 3 Hawaii included shooting hoops prior to facing SMU.

RICE AT HAWAII When: 7 p.m. tomorrow. Where: Stan Sheriff Center. TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5). Radio: Live, KKEA (1420-AM). Series: Hawaii leads 11-0. Note: Tomorrow's match marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Stan Sheriff Center. On Oct. 21, 1994, Hawaii defeated San Jose State, 3-1, the first of 12 sellouts for Wahine volleyball.

Tomorrow night, the Rainbow Wahine face a serious challenge from the other unbeaten team in the Western Athletic Conference. Rice, off to its best start in school history, has done plenty to demand attention.

The Owls are 7-0 in the WAC's Eastern Division, 18-2 overall, with both losses coming on the road in five. Rice hasn't lost since Sept. 17, when it fell to No. 1 Minnesota in a match where the Owls won Games 2 and 3 and were leading 28-24 in Game 4; the Golden Gophers went on a 6-0 run to win Game 4 then took Game 5 15-11.

Rice, on the verge of breaking into the Top 25, puts its 11-match win streak on the line against Hawaii and a lot of history. The Wahine have won 16 straight this season, 33 in a row at home, 96 consecutive WAC matches and 188 against unranked opponents.

Something's got to give.

"We need someone to challenge us and they will," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "They have a veteran team, players who have been around the league.

"They have two dynamic left-side hitters and two big middles. Our hitters will need to use good judgment in where they hit the ball."

The Wahine will also need to slow down Rice's Rebeca Pazo. The 5-foot-11 senior -- eight kills away from breaking the school record of 1,830 -- has had 14 double-doubles in 20 matches, is averaging 4.57 kills per game (fourth-best in the WAC) and has 34 aces.

The Owls added Pazo's younger sister to the roster this year and doubled their success. Olaya Pazo, also 5-11, is averaging 2.45 kills and has 23 aces.

The pair from Venezuela combined for 29 kills and 21 digs in last Saturday's sweep of Tulsa.

Complementing Rice's sister act are 6-3 senior middle Rebecca Kainz (2.70 kpg, 0.98 blocks per game), 6-3 sophomore middle Tessa Kuykendall (2.33 kpg, 1.60 bpg) and senior hitter Lindsey Carter (3.36 kpg). Junior setter Kristina Hoban has been very effective at spreading the offense.

Rice has come together quickly under its third coach in as many years. This is the first head coach job for former Texas A&M setter Genny Volpe, who has been an assistant at A&M, SMU and Rice.

"I'm excited to see how the girls are going to go out there and compete," Volpe told the Houston Chronicle earlier this week. "They're not nervous, they're not worried, they're very focused. I think that this team is special in that regard. I truly believe that they are not intimidated.

"We've been winning authoritatively against teams we could have easily lost one or two games to. I think they realize they are a team that can compete against the best in the nation."

Hawaii is one of three undefeated teams remaining in the country. No. 1 Washington (15-0) and No. 7 Ohio State (18-0) are the others.

"We have a lot of respect for Rice and we're looking forward to the challenge," UH assistant Kari Anderson said. "Every night in the WAC somebody brings something different in trying to find ways to beat us. Obviously, we've responded.

"I think our girls understand what it's going to take and they're ready to be back playing in front of our home crowd."

Hawaii's lineup was unsettled going into today's practice. Shoji said he wasn't sure which freshman middle he would start -- 6-3 Kari Gregory or 6-2 Juliana Sanders -- nor was he set on his libero (5-6 junior Ashley Watanabe or 6-foot Teisa Fotu).

What is certain is that reigning WAC Player of the Week Alicia Arnott will be at left-side hitter. The sophomore had a career-high 30 kills in Saturday's victory at SMU.

"I'm hoping that it was a breakout game for her and that she'll continue playing like that," Shoji said. "She had her best match as far as elevating and seeing what shot to hit. We speeded up the tempo of the outside set and the (SMU) middles couldn't keep up with the tempo."

Credit sophomore setter Kanoe Kamana'o with making it work. She ranks seventh in assists (13.87 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging over 13.5 assists, 3.0 digs and 1.0 blocks per gam