CARDINAL: CIRCLE THE 12TH AS A RED-LETTER DAY

        The Shoji family showdown happens again within nine matches when Hawaii coach Dave Shoji sees daughter Cobey, Stanford's director of volleyball operations, on the opposing bench Sept. 12. The Cardinal ended the Wahine's season in last year's NCAA regional final before finishing second to Penn State. All-Americans Foluke Akinradewo and Cynthia Barboza are gone, but Stanford still has junior All-America hitter Alix Klineman, who is 86 kills shy of the 1,000 mark.
       

Things have come in threes for the Cardinal, picked to finish third in the Pac-10 (behind Washington and Cal). Stanford is riding a string of three Pac-10 titles, three 30-win seasons and three appearances in the NCAA championship match. The Cardinal are one of two programs to make every NCAA tournament; Penn State is the other.

Under former Pacific coach John Dunning, Stanford has closed the series gap with Hawaii to 17-13. The Cardinal have won the last three meetings.

WAHINE NOTES

        Saint Louis (29-5): The Billikens return five starters from their undefeated Atlantic 10 championship team, including senior hitter Sammi McCloud, SLU's first A-10 player of the year and third-team All-American. Anne Kordes was named CVU.com's national and AVCA Northeast Region coach of the year.
       

Texas (29-4): The Longhorns return two first-team All-Americans from the NCAA semifinal team in senior hitters Ashley Engle and Destinee Hooker, the latter the Big 12's Female Athlete of the Year. Also back among the six starters is setter Michelle Kocher, the Big 12 freshman of the year. It's homecoming time for sophomore libero Sydney Yogi (Punahou '08). Longhorn coach Jerritt Elliott is a former Warrior volleyball player.

California (26-7): The Golden Bears, picked to finish second in the Pac-10, have five starters back, led by All-Americans Hana Cutura, a senior hitter, and junior setter Carli Lloyd. Former Wahine setter Jen Carey is Cal's new director of volleyball operations. Coincidentally, Carey's first collegiate match was against the host Golden Bears in 1999.

Weber State (21-13): The Wildcats are led by senior hitter Chelsea Blair, who needs 19 kills to become No. 2 on WSU's career list. WSU is picked fifth in the Big Sky.

UT-San Antonio (19-12): Anchoring the Roadrunners are senior middle Stefanie Robbins, the Southland Conference newcomer of the year, and SLC libero of the year sophomore Kelsey Jewasko. UTSA assistant Howard Wallace was the Wahine associate coach for nine seasons.

Pepperdine (20-4): The Waves return five starters for Nina Matthies, the West Coast Conference's all-time winningest coach. The freshman class was ranked 12th in the country, led by 6-3 middle Victoria Adelhelm. The Waves are picked second in the WCC.

RULING WAC PRESEASON, TOO!

        » Congrats to All-WAC preseason team picks: Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Amber Kaufman, Dani Mafua, Stephanie Ferrell & Kanani Danielson.

        » Danielson makes it five in a row for the WAC Preseason Player of Year to wear a Wahine uniform.

        » Picked to win 14th straight WAC title by coaches:
       

1. Hawaii (8 first-place votes), 64 points
        2. New Mexico State (1), 57 points
        3. Utah State, 45 points 4. Idaho, 41 points
        5. Nevada, 37 points
        6. San Jose State, 29 points 7. Fresno State, 28 points
        8. Boise State, 12 points 9. Louisiana Tech, 11 points