Five years ago the words "Victoria Prince" and "Rainbow Wahine volleyball" wouldn't have been considered in the same sentence. For the past two seasons, Prince has etched her name indelibly on the program.

No one expected that. Not Prince nor Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji, who admits he "prepared her" to be rejected last year when she came to visit while looking for a place to transfer during her final semester at Washington State.

Prince was "undersized" and he didn't know if she could start, but finally decided that — after two years in the country's best conference — she couldn't be that bad.

She turned out awfully good.

Hawai'i won its first 30 matches with Prince last season when she earned second-team All-America honors. With her numbers as remarkable, and remarkably consistent, in her senior season, Hawai'i (17-6, 11-0 WAC) is ranked ninth going into tomorrow's match against visiting Idaho (13-11, 5-6).

The middle blocker is UH's most effective attacker, and most graceful. She has turned the slide play into an art, the jump serve into a choreographed move and volleyball matches into recitals with a style more reminiscent of dance than the Bash Ball practiced by her predecessors.

She came here with the Stan Sheriff Center still shaking from the thunder of in-your-face All-Americans Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku. Prince will leave after this season as one of the country's most effective hitters and blockers, and the focal point of a Rainbow offense now more Baryshnikov than Bash.

She does not come by the dance comparison naturally. Prince tried gymnastics when she was young, but her knees dragged on the ground off the bars and "it was comical to watch her try to tuck and roll," according to mother Brenda.

Gymnastics was a bust, but the little girl who was "all arms and legs," and would grow to 5 feet 10 1/2 (despite what the roster says), ultimately played AAU basketball, fastpitch softball, golf and volleyball growing up in Eastern Washington.

Her mother, a 1968 Leilehua graduate, believes her daughter's grace was an acquired gift from her hours in the volleyball gym and weight room. Brenda first saw the similarities to dance when a coach produced a recruiting tape of her daughter in slow motion.

"To see these girls, when they pass and go up for a kill ... you can see every muscle in their body," Brenda Prince says. "It's ballet, so beautiful. You could put music to it. It is really pretty."

Chansri Green, a sports fan from Chicago and graduate assistant in the UH dance department, agrees. Michael Jordan's hang time reminds her of Baryshnikov. Green focuses on efficiency of movement and weight transfer when she watches football. She has used volleyball as an example for her dance students.

Hitters use their back and stomach muscles to hit, not just their arms, which is what she teaches in modern dance. One-foot takeoffs, such as the slide and jump serve, are reminiscent of the assemblé, while Green sees the sauté in Kanoe Kamana'o's jump-set. Green even finds elements of dance in passing and the contrasting styles of quick players, like Prince, and players with long extensions, such as former 'Bow Lauren Duggins.

Prince, unintentionally, takes the dance form comparison to another level with her long, slender figure and penchant for always wearing her hair up.

Not that she has ever taken dance. Her major is communication arts and her minor is volleyball. Her future could include coaching, playing professionally or analyzing professional athletes as a broadcaster.

"I feel like whatever God wants ... when the time comes I'll know," Prince says. "And He hasn't told me anything yet."

Shoji believes Prince is up to those tasks as well. He calls her a "sports junkie," comparing her proudly to himself. She follows football, basketball and hockey passionately and most admires the Patriots' team concept, Allan Iverson "because he plays beyond hard every single game" and Duke basketball.

The last book she bought was "The Physics of Football." "I'm learning about bone-crunching hits," explains Prince. "That's a complicated game."

Prince, who has been dating UH defensive back Kenny Patton for nearly a year, even understands the nuances of The Immaculate Reception from the 1972 game between the Steelers and Raiders. She was born in 1982 — surrounded by two brothers and a father who were always watching or playing sports.

For now, she will focus on the final weeks of her collegiate career. Prince is a more mature person, and much better — especially stronger — player than when she came here last summer. And she made an instant impact then, playing with a shocking amount of confidence for a player who had been out a year with a broken leg.

It never slowed her. That is not her style.

"Everything she does is pretty fast," Shoji says. "Her arm is fast, her feet are fast. If you look at her, she's not a physical-looking player, so you underestimate her a lot. If I were an opposing coach, I don't think I'd be too intimidated."

The talent, confidence and a focus bordering on tunnel vision changed Shoji's mind quickly after he saw her in a game. It took longer for Prince to appreciate her potential for the team.

"I think now she wants to be that feature player," Shoji says. "She has the confidence that she can be the go-to player. I don't think she really thought that about herself until late last year."

That's when she and Kamana'o began to turn the slide play into something poetic. Prince makes it work because she is athletic enough to make tough adjustments in a split second and quick enough to beat most blocks.

But she is the first to admit her All-America setter puts the poetry in motion.

"It has to be a good set," Prince says. "You can get lucky sometimes, but with Kanoe you get a good set every time. I love the slide, and Kanoe is the best I've ever seen setting it."

That, and a couple other critical elements, are the difference between getting lost in the Pac-10 shuffle at Washington State and finding success immediately in Manoa.

"People ask me why I've been so successful here," Prince says. "It's pretty obvious there are three answers. One, it's God's plan; two, I've got one of the best setters in the nation — sometimes when Kanoe sets the ball I just start drooling; and, three, I've got the greatest coaches."

Brenda wasn't sure her daughter would ever get this chance and feels "blessed" by the opportunity, even if the distance between the two has been difficult.

"When she broke her leg, at that point I had this feeling she would never play again," Brenda recalled. "So last year was an unbelievable year for her — to make All-American and the team to go undefeated and the camaraderie the team had.

"I was just excited so much last year and felt like this year would be even better. And now, it's gone by so fast."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.