For those wondering what the difference is between tonight's exhibition volleyball match between the Rainbow Wahine and Wisconsin and the tentative season opener Aug. 25 against Pepperdine think Blackjack.

When Hawai'i's Dave Shoji coaches in the regular season he is like a dealer on a single-deck table. Tonight, he's shuffling eight decks and all cards are up.

"You don't coach to win necessarily," Shoji said. "You'd like to win, but you need to see most of your players, especially the ones competing for starting positions. This is the start of evaluation for next fall. We'll establish a depth chart starting now."

The Rainbow Wahine's spring season officially started Monday, with the team playing together for the first time since it lost in the Penn State Regional in December. The Badgers got together last Thursday for the first time since losing in the College Station (Texas) Regional.

Hawai'i was ninth in last year's final ranking, at 27-7. Of the 315 Division I teams, it had the 14th-best hitting percentage. Wisconsin was ranked 10th, at 26-7, and was the country's seventh-best blocking team.

The 'Bows have one All-American back in setter Kanoe Kamana'o, but lost another when Victoria Prince's eligibility ended in December. The Badgers lost their lone All-American in middle blocker Sheila Shaw.

Hawai'i returns four starters and Wisconsin five. The Badgers are here for a week of training with an abnormally large spring roster of 13 players. Under an agreement with the school, all paid their own way here — anything to escape 30-degree temperatures — and UW will pick up the tab in paradise. The Badgers and 'Bows will both play a tournament at BYU-Hawai'i this weekend.

"We've been a young team and it's time to mature a little," Wisconsin coach Pete Waite said. "We'll probably have one freshman starting for us, so we'll be moving people around and trying to expand their games. We'll have rough times during the spring as we watch them grow and make mistakes."

What UH fans see tonight is pretty much what they will get in August, with the two incoming recruits expected to need time to season. Amber Kaufman, from San Jose, is a middle blocker. Dani Mafua, a senior at Mid-Pacific Institute, will probably spend her first year enhancing her setting skills behind seniors Cayley Thurlby and Kamana'o.

Walk-on defensive specialist Kelly Ong is not with the Rainbows this spring but could return in the fall, according to Shoji. Ashley Watanabe's libero position is still packed with possibilities.

Shoji will look at Thurlby, Raeceen Woolford, transfer Elise Duggins, Jayme Lee and Rayna Kitaguchi for the position. UH has to replace two primary passers — Susie Boogaard and Watanabe — and somehow make up for Watanabe's school-record 481 digs.

The only returning passer is Tara Hittle, who will be a junior in the fall and was hurt most of last season. Shoji expects more from Hittle — so much that he is comparing her ballhandling skills to 2003 national player of the year Kim Willoughby.

"Hittle will be our passing and defensive anchor," Shoji said. "You can put her in the same group as Willoughby and anyone else we've had back there in the middle. She is one of the best we've ever had. She covers a lot of ground and and she's fast. We need her to have a big year defensively and we'll count on her passing a lot."

There is also a huge gap in the middle with Prince gone, which Juliana Sanders, Kari Gregory and Nickie Thomas will attempt to fill. Prince led UH in every scoring statistic (kills, aces, blocks and points) last year and hit over .400.

The only other change will be next to Shoji on the bench. Kari Ambrozich was promoted to co-associate coach when UH hired Mike Sealy to replace previous associate Charlie Wade 10 days ago.

Sealy expects to do lots of observing tonight: "This is a top-10 team that had one loss that wasn't to a top-five team last year," he said. "It doesn't need radical change. I'm not going to perform bypass surgery."

Tonight will be more of a physical check-up.

"I just want to be comfortable with our 'physical' level," Shoji said. "I want to know we are physical enough to compete at the highest level."

This is the first time the teams have played since Hawai'i lost to the Badgers — 21-19 in the fifth — in the 2004 regional at Green Bay, Wis.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.