Freshman hitter Kanani Herring, her injured left ankle in a protective walking boot, watched this morning's practice in Gym I from the sidelines while the rest of seventh-ranked Hawaii volleyball team prepared for its first road trip of the season.

Herring, who sprained the ankle during Monday's practice, is on the 12-player travel roster for the Rainbow Wahine. Hawaii was to leave this afternoon for Western Athletic Conference matches at Louisiana Tech Thursday, New Mexico State Saturday and San Jose State Monday.

This morning, Wahine coach Dave Shoji reiterated that the injury didn't appear serious but “;I'm not sure if she'll be ready to go Thursday,”; Shoji said of Herring's playing status for the La-Tech match.

Yesterday, Herring picked up her first WAC player of the week honor. She averaged 4.93 points, 4.57 kills, 4.57 digs and 0.57 blocks as Hawaii opened conference play with wins over Idaho and Boise State.

Also yesterday, the Wahine (9-2) remained in seventh in the AVCA Coaches Division I Top 25 poll.

The only change among the top nine was Penn State (12-0) returning to a unanimous No. 1. The Nittany Lions had 60 first-place votes after receiving 59 last week.

Nebraska (10-0), which had one vote last week, stayed at No. 2. Following the Huskers are Texas (5-2), UCLA (10-1), USC (7-2) and Stanford (9-2).