Last time the Rainbow Wahine played, they had every UCLA move checked and charted before the NCAA Volleyball Championship regional final started. When 10th-ranked Hawai'i opens its 2007 season tomorrow at Stan Sheriff Center, it will know next to nothing about Michigan.

There is method to the madness in the ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational. What happens on the other side of the net is as irrelevant as it will ever be opening week. UH coach Dave Shoji estimates 90 percent of his concentration tomorrow will be on his team.

The Wolverines and Colorado State, which plays Oregon State in tomorrow's first match, each have six starters back. Hawai'i and OSU have five, but the difference is more than one deep: The Beavers had eight freshmen last year; the Rainbows had three season-ending injuries.

Their lineups went through tumultuous change and it might not end. Oregon State brought in six new players this year. Shoji, who went through some 15 lineups last year, was still working on his first for 2007 last night.

For now, he has sophomores Amber Kaufman and Jayme Lee returning at their right-side and libero positions, barely edging first-year players Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Liz Ka'aihue. All-American Jamie Houston and Tara Hittle will start on the left and All-Western Athletic Conference seniors Juliana Sanders and Kari Gregory are back in the middle.

Shoji chose red-shirt freshman Dani Mafua over sophomore transfer Stephanie Brandt to start at setter, solely on the basis of her consistency this week. That position might be up for grabs all season.

"They just need to give our hitters a decent chance to be successful," Shoji said. "That's all we need out of them. We don't need them to make spectacular plays or try and fool anybody. They just need to give our hitters a swing."

Capsules of the opponents:

MICHIGAN

2006: 21-13, 8-12 Big Ten (T7)

UH series: Hawai'i leads 2-0

Notes: Only in the Big Ten and Pac 10 can a team tie for seventh and consider it a good season. The Wolverines went on to their sixth NCAA Tournament in eight years and received votes in this year's preseason Top 25. They opened 2006 by winning their first 13 and upset 12th-ranked Minnesota and 16th-ranked Purdue within a week. Michigan could start four or five upperclassmen, including all-region hitter Katie Bruzdzinski, who set a single-season school record for kills last year (537/4.63 a game), led the conference in aces and was second in kills and points. Middle Lyndsay Miller should be fifth on the school's all-time blocks list by the time she leaves. Stesha Selsky, the third senior starter and school's career dig leader, returns to libero after starting at setter last year. Fab 50 freshman Lexi Zimmerman is the new setter.

And what's more: Dave Shoji's daughter, Cobey, played for Michigan in 2000.

COLORADO STATE

2006: 20-10, 11-5 Mountain West (3rd)

UH series: Hawai'i leads 6-0

Notes: CSU also received votes in the preseason poll and was picked to finish second in the Mountain West. The Rams upset regular-season champion Utah to win the conference tournament last year. They have gone to the past 12 NCAA Tournaments. CSU has seven freshmen on its roster. Juniors Mekana Barnes (middle) and Ashley Fornstrom (setter) are preseason all-conference picks. Barnes averaged more than three kills and a block per game last year. Jaime Strauss was the MWC Tournament MVP.

And what's more: Colorado State and Hawai'i have not played since the Rams were in the WAC (1997).

OREGON STATE

2006: 3-24, 0-18 Pac-10 (10th)

UH series: Hawai'i leads 4-0

Notes: When former Olympic coach Taras Liskevych started his second season at OSU last year, he brought in eight freshmen, including Kahuku's Camilla Ah-Hoy, to try and help change the fortunes of a program that has had three winning seasons the last 25 years. This year there are three more freshmen and as many transfers, including setter K.C. Walsh, whose sister Kerri might be the best player on the planet. Rachel Rourke averaged more than four kills a game last season and Kristin Murray, the team's lone senior, averaged just over two kills and digs. Ah-Hoy, a two-time All-State selection, was starting at setter last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Her cousin, Al Afalava, plays safety for the OSU football team.

And what's more: Liskevych was the U.S. women's national team coach from 1985 to '96. Before that he built Pacific into a national power and was 1983 national coach of the year — when Hawai'i won its second straight NCAA championship.

NOTES

Kim Willoughby, Hawai'i's 2003 national player of the year, is about to return to Italy after spending the summer here. This will be Willoughby's second year playing professional volleyball in Italy. Before that she was playing basketball and volleyball in Puerto Rico. She said her team, based in Turin, will put her close to Olympians Heather Bown (another former UH All-American) and Lindsey Berg (Punahou '98), who have also been playing in Italy. Berg was also here this summer. Willoughby said she is three classes short of graduating and has changed her major from psychology to anthropology in hopes of pursuing a career in forensic science.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.