If volleyball scrimmages provide a preview of coming attractions, then the Rainbow Wahine boosters could be considered Roger Ebert. Their reviews are educated because they have a history with Hawai'i. Their opinions matter because they have an objectivity that only comes from outside the lines.

Besides, Hawai'i has the only revenue-producing women's volleyball team in the sport. It has led the country in attendance — by a bunch — since the Stan Sheriff Center opened in 1994. Clearly more people here care.

According to those boosters who watched Saturday afternoon's scrimmage, what should we expect this weekend when seventh-ranked Hawai'i opens against 19th-ranked Pepperdine?

A quicker offense and a quicker Tara Hittle.

More face time for first-year players Amber Kaufman and Elise Duggins than you might have expected.

A breakout year for Jamie Houston and, ideally, a quick recovery from the bad break that befell Sarah Mason.

A promising future for freshman setter Dani Mafua and another peerless season for three-time All-American Kanoe Kamana'o, expected to pass her position to Mafua in four months.

"Hittle looks phenomenal," said Hawai'i Baptist coach Myles Shioji from the stands Saturday. "She looks like the best player out there, the most complete. Well, I mean, of course there's always Kamana'o but ..."

"But" that apparently goes without saying after three seasons of the Iolani graduate putting her magical touch on this team and somehow making the game appear effortless.

No one really talked of Kamana'o Saturday. Her gifts are apparently a given.

What the 60 or so boosters came to see were the new players and the madness in the middle with four 'Bows — including Kaufman, the uber-athletic freshman — vying for two spots. When Mason went down with a sprained ankle minutes into the scrimmage, questions surfaced about depth on the right, where she was projected to start.

That injury was about all that discouraged the boosters.

"There is a lot of talent. It's just chemistry ...," said former UH libero Melissa Villaroman, who watched with last year's libero, Ashley Watanabe. "I think they could do it. It depends on their attitude and emotional game, if they can carry each other through the hard times."

Tina Smith has had season tickets more than a decade, even holding onto them the four years she was not stationed in Hawai'i. She got worried during the season opener last year, when Nebraska "annihilated" Hawai'i and Mason joined Hittle on the sideline with a bad ankle. This season she is unabashedly upbeat. She even saw a bright side to Mason's misfortune.

"It's better to have her go down a week before the season starts than in the opener," Smith said. "She came back fine last year. Knowing that, and knowing they're going to be home for the regionals ... I'm not worried."

Gary Jennings has followed the Rainbow Wahine more than 30 years, from the brutal summer nights in Klum Gym, through his daughter Summer's career at Colorado State and overseas — where she played with former 'Bow Maja Gustin — to the past few years of near-misses.

He liked the way all the middles looked and was surprised at how high the 6-foot Kaufman could climb up the net. But, unlike Smith, he worried about Mason's recovery and how Hawai'i will do against the four Top-20 teams coming to Stan Sheriff Center the first three weeks.

Basil Sparlin, president of the men's volleyball booster club, was happy to see coach Dave Shoji's promise to bring a bit more of the "men's game" to his team being fulfilled. He was impressed by the hitting efficiency of Hittle — whom he also called a "digging fool" — and Houston from the backrow.

He and Doug Parks, a former Long Beach State booster (whose daughter was the 49ers' trainer) who has been with Hawai'i the past three years, both liked the quicker offense.

"Hittle looks faster definitely, since she's recovered (from her ankle injury)," Parks said. "And I think Jamie Houston will really have a breakout year. She really looks good."

Both boosters were struck by the impact Duggins made defensively. Sparlin also was surprised at the soft setter's hands Mafua showed and Kaufman's potential. Parks gravitated toward the middle, where he was impressed with "Vegas" (Kari Gregory) and Nickie Thomas, both backups last year.

Shioji, who sat with the family of HBA graduate and UH freshman Jayme Lee, spoke like the coach he is. He felt the Rainbow Wahine looked stronger, particularly in the middle, and quicker. He called Mafua "a nice heir" to Kamana'o's setting throne because of her hands and mobility, and thought every part of Hittle's game had grown.

Those "refinements," according to Watanabe, are one of the keys this year. But the most compelling question that needs to be answered has nothing to do with skill or coaching, according to the former players.

"The skills are going to come. It's all in here," Watanabe said, pointing to her heart.

Villaroman went back to last December's NCAA playoff match at Texas, Hawai'i's finest moment. It is an emotional space the Rainbow Wahine need to rediscover — and remain in — if they want to get to the next level this season.

"It's all about heart and getting in the zone," Villaroman said. "When they were playing against Texas they were just unstoppable. They had so much confidence they could overcome anything. You can't coach heart. It's got to come from the 18 girls."

2006 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—Waikîki 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 Regional at Stan Sheriff Center.
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.