Manoa's humid gyms are field houses of dreams for hundreds of volleyball players during Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji's summer camps. Athletes from six countries and a dozen states participated this year. Three of this week's campers had their dream come true.

Mid-Pacific graduate Dani Mafua and San Jose's Amber Kaufman are the Rainbow Wahine's scholarship recruits for 2006. Practice opens next week and Hawai'i's season starts Aug. 25 and 26 against Pepperdine.

Amanda Simmons, about to start her senior year at Elk Grove High School near Chicago, has verbally committed to Hawai'i next year. She can sign a letter of intent in November.

"I'm still a little shy now because I just got here," said Simmons, who saw Hawai'i for the first time Monday with her mother. "I'm really not shy. I'm a loud and crazy person, but right now I'm just getting a feel for the people on the team. Everyone is older than me but I think it will be very fun."

The 6-foot-3 middle is ranked 28th academically in a class of 517 and plans to become a psychiatrist. She won't take her official UH visit for a few months, but was hooked early by a video that confirmed the good karma created by the biggest volleyball crowds in the country.

The close-knit ambience was precisely what her small family — "it's just me and my mom at home" — wanted. The Rainbow "rumors" they kept hearing did not change their minds.

"Hawai'i is like a well-kept secret on the Mainland," Simmons said. "But once you mention it, people start saying things like, 'I heard 10,000 people watch them.' Somebody else will say 'I heard that they are really family-oriented and no one is really mean there.'

"I live in Chicago. People honk their horns, swear at you, push you out of the way. Here everything seems really cool, really mellow."

Except, possibly, Mafua and Kaufman, a 6-1 middle who could also hit outside because of her exceptional ability to elevate off one foot.

"I'm nervous," Kaufman admitted. "I just want to be everything they want me to be. ... They can put me wherever they want to. I'll play libero if they want me to. I really want to be here."

Shoji does not share her trepidation. Kaufman averaged 19 kills, 10 digs, seven blocks and five aces as a senior. There are pictures of her feet flying over an official's head in the jump pit. She won Central Coast championships in the high and long jumps — she cleared 6 feet — and picked UH in part because she could also pursue track dreams.

PrepVolleyball.com called Kaufman a "breathtaking athlete" while ranking her 25th among their Senior Aces last year. She reminds Shoji of small middles such as Lauren Duggins and Victoria Prince who have been so successful for UH in the past, but says Kaufman is "more physical."

Mafua's Rainbow Wahine dreams date back to when the 5-10 setter was "little." She could red-shirt in All-American Kanoe Kamana'o's senior season, but Shoji wants to wait before making a final decision.

"Dani has great all-around volleyball skills," Shoji said. "She was a hitter up until last year. She is a very good, accomplished volleyball player. She can hit, she can play defense. That's not what we got her for, but if she can contribute she'll be out there."

Now he has to get Mafua to believe the hype. When Shoji first came to watch her she figured he was recruiting a teammate.

"For him to notice me really opened my eyes," she recalled. "I pushed myself harder. I didn't know how to gauge myself before that. When he approached me and made the offer, that was a nice gauge. ... I always thought Hawai'i was way too good for me."

PrepVolleyball.com ranked Mafua 27th among its Top 100, saying she "has benefited from having played as an attacker" and adding she will benefit even more by having a year to learn from Kamana'o, a three-time All-American.

NOTES

The Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be moved back to the week before Thanksgiving in 2007, according to UH associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano, who says the school can now "seriously think about bidding" to host. ... Matches with three of the WAC's top teams — Nevada, San Jose State and New Mexico State — that were tentatively scheduled for Saturdays have been moved to Sundays at 5 p.m. in the final 2006 schedule. ... Ticket information for the NCAA Honolulu Regional, Dec. 8 and 9 at Stan Sheriff Center, has still not been finalized.

RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

AUGUST

25-26—Pepperdine.

SEPTEMBER

1-3—Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic (Friday, UCLA vs. Colorado, 4:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. Florida; Saturday—Florida vs. UCLA, 4:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. Colorado; Sunday—Florida vs. Colorado, 2:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. UCLA).

Sept. 7-9—Waik”ki Beach Marriott Volleyball Challenge (Thursday—Stanford vs. Northwestern, 4:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. Fairfield; Friday—Stanford vs. Fairfield, 4:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. Northwestern; Saturday—Fairfield vs. Northwestern, 4:30 p.m., followed by Hawai'i vs. Stanford).

14-15—Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

23—*Fresno State.

29—*at Fresno State.

30—*at San Jose State.

OCTOBER

6—*Utah State.

8—*Nevada, 5 p.m.

9—*Boise State.

12—*at Louisiana Tech.

13—*at New Mexico State.

16-17—Notre Dame.

27—*Idaho.

29—*San Jose State, 5 p.m.

NOVEMBER

2—*at Nevada.

4—*at Utah State.

10—*Louisiana Tech.

12—*New Mexico State, 5 p.m.

15—*at Boise State.

17—*at Idaho.

22-24—WAC Tournament (Lawlor Events Center, Reno).

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

Nov. 30-Dec. 3—First and Second Rounds (sites TBA).

Dec. 8-9—NCAA Honolulu Regional.

Dec. 14,16—NCAA Championship (Omaha, Neb.)

* —WAC matches

All home matches start at 7 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center, unless noted

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.