With one senior class swoosh, Hawai'i Baptist Academy's Eagles have suddenly landed in NCAA Division I volleyball.

The class of 2005, which finished a win away from their senior state high school tournament, is having a surprisingly large impact for a bunch of petite players from a size-SS school.

Jayme Lee, Rayna Kitaguchi and Brandi Higa grew up playing pepper in the parking lot and pretending they were Rainbow Wahine. Now Lee and Kitaguchi are redshirt freshmen on 15th-ranked Hawai'i's team, which opens its Western Athletic Conference season tomorrow against Fresno State.

UH coach Dave Shoji knew early that even if their skills took time to polish, they would always find a way to help. "There isn't a selfish bone in their bodies," he said of Kitaguchi and Lee. "They just want to be part of it."

Higa is in her second year at Fairfield, where she and her four teammates from Hawai'i spend off time making spam musubi and introducing the Ka'au Crater Boys to Connecticut. Kara Kamikawa, the fourth HBA senior in 2005, was offered a chance to play at Brown, but chose to concentrate on class.

Lee, the tiniest Eagle at about 5 foot 1, is volleyball valedictorian of the foursome so far. She took over as the Rainbow Wahine's starting libero opening night and is on pace to break the UH season dig record. She has become the leader of Hawai'i's large defensive pack — a group that includes Kitaguchi — by fearless example.

"She just goes for it more, she's not afraid," Shoji said. "She goes for every ball. That has to be part of the mentality of the libero. You can't be tentative and let other people make plays. You've got to make plays in front of them. Her theme has been throwing her body all over the court. That's what separated her in the first place."

The HBA graduates are helping perpetuate a UH pipeline of small home-grown players who walked on and found a way to contribute to a Top-20 program. Jaime Paet left her mark in the '80s and Stephanie Shota in the '90s. Ashley Watanabe was the relentless role model for Kitaguchi and Lee.

Their paths are rarely paved. The initial tryout is a blur of confusion interrupted by intimidation. Early years are often an investment of endless hours that test the body and soul with very little payoff in playing time.

"Walking on is a total test of your faith," Lee said. "It will test you in every way possible. You've just got to have faith in yourself."

For those who hang on through the hurt and work hard enough to give Hawai'i an edge, the payoff is priceless — for those who do it, and the children who watch them succeed and realize what appears impossible might truly be an option.

For HBA's class of 2005, it started with a passion for volleyball. They have played together since fifth grade and were close friends back in first.

"Our senior class was really driven in sports, ever since we were little," Lee recalls. "We were always, always playing volleyball."

The Eagles went from "HB-who" to major volleyball players when they upset Punahou as sophomores, according to Kitaguchi and Lee. They still remember every point.

Kitaguchi, who lives minutes away from the Manoa campus, always wanted to come to UH. Lee made a visit and had an offer to play at Air Force Academy. It would have been a wise economic move for the pre-med major, who wants to work with special needs children. But ultimately she too decided to stay home and weather Rainbow tryouts, where Kitaguchi's presence was the only calm in the storm.

"A lot of times during tryouts I had my doubts," Kitaguchi said. "I was thinking why am I here? The process of making it was tough. I guess what motivated me to stay was our former coach Charlie (Wade) talking about Ashley Watanabe. How she wasn't recruited by anybody and she was given the opportunity and she made it."

Both cried when they made the cut last year. The process finally stopped being a blur this year and both realized their best way to contribute.

For now, Kitaguchi's best attribute is her upbeat attitude and constant faith in the player beside her. Lee is absolutely aware of how much the Rainbows need her energy, and has shown flashes of brilliance that, in a freshman, are extremely promising.

"It's still a process," she said. "Even though I'm playing, I still know I have some really big shoes to fill. It's not going to get any easier as the time goes along. There are five or six great liberos on the team that push me everyday. ... I have to work my butt off every single day to get better and be what this team needs. I think all of us do."

NOTES

Tomorrow's alumnae match starts at 5 p.m. The list of players includes Lauren Duggins Chun, Teisa Fotu Auva'a, Paula Jenkins, Diana McInerny-McKibbin, Mary Robins-Hardy, Tita Ahuna, Leah Karratti, Toni Nishida Chock, Waynette Mitchell, Tanja Nikolic and Melody Eckmier.

UH sophomore Jamie Houston is averaging 5.15 kills per game, which ranks eighth in NCAA Division I and first among WAC players. She is trying to become the first Rainbow Wahine since Kim Willoughby, in 2003, to average more than five kills.

Volleyball followers weren't the only ones saddened by Tara Hittle's season-ending injury to her right leg and foot. Hittle said that when she was healthy, she was talking to Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Jim Bolla about playing. Hittle was an all-area basketball player for Doherty High School in Colorado Springs.

In the history of the AVCA Coaches Poll, Hawai'i is second to Stanford in top-five rankings at 206 weeks, but first in top-three rankings (164 weeks) and top-two (126).

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.