Season tickets go on sale this week. The new lineup is taking shape. Here we go. And with each promise of the future comes the memory of a glorious past and the goal that has called out for almost 20 years.

In December 1987, the NCAA women's volleyball championship game between the Wahines, as they were called at the time, and the Stanford Cardinal was played in snowy Indianapolis.

Hawai'i was No. 1 in the nation. Stanford was No. 3. Just the week before in the regional tournament, Hawai'i had beaten No. 2 University of the Pacific in three games. Klum Gym was still cooling off after that one.

But this match was far away from the fiercely adoring home crowd.

Coach Dave Shoji wore a mullet and a Don Johnson gray jacket with shoulder pads and a skinny pink tie. The players wore their first names, not their last, on the backs of their long-sleeved jerseys: Teee, Martina, Suzanne, Mahina, Diana, Tita.

There were 6,895 in the crowd that night. Maybe 50 were from Hawai'i. The rest of the Hawai'i fans watched from home live via satellite, which was quite a coup for KHNL-13 at the time.

Tita Ahuna's mom led the cheering section in a hula to "Rain!" "Bows!" "Rain!" "Bows!"

It was a scream-till-your-throat-burns, shake-your-ti-leaf, stomp-the-bleachers kind of night.

The Wahines dominated the first two games, hit a slump in the third, but charged back in the fourth to take down Stanford, 15-10, 15-10, 9-15, 15-1. People still get chicken skin thinking about it.

And when it was over, all those remarkable athletes could do was thank their fans over and over.

Suzanne Eagye, her smile as bright as the sun, screamed, "We said, 'Let's do it for Hawai'i,' and that's what we did."

Mahina Eleneki, her voice blasted out from yelling during the game, managed a hoarse but heartfelt mahalo to the Klum Gym fans.

"They're part of this just as much as the team is, so thank you," she said.

And then there was Tita Ahuna, absolutely beaming, and her mother, Rey, bawling into a towel. Both said they were speechless, but both managed to come up with little victory speeches anyway.

Said mom, "I'm speechless! And to the gang at the Salt Lake District Park, thank you for all your support. To all my family, thank you for your support. To Jesus, thank you for your support."

Said Tita, "I'm speechless!" and then, "I just like to say to all my friends in Hawai'i: DEA YOU GO!"

Here we go.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.