For the past three years, opening weekend offered a pretty good peek at what the Rainbow Wahine would have to overcome to be successful in volleyball's postseason. Four years ago, there was already a sense of something magical. This morning, there is a definite need to see more to make any assessment of Hawai'i at all.

There was something for everyone at last weekend's Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic, starting with the Rainbow Wahine. They made the half-full Stan Sheriff Center sound as if it was standing-room-only Sunday with a series of surges. "They went ahead and said we got your back," UH freshman Kanani Herring said of the crowd. "Now we have to do our jobs."

Ohio went winless, but fell in love with the North Shore on its week-long training trip, which included camping at Mokule'ia.

Top-ranked Penn State stuck around to pick up all the top trophies and watch all 2 hours and 26 minutes of Sunday's Hawai'i-UCLA match. The Nittany Lions got so caught up that they were cheering wildly for the Rainbow Wahine at the end, and participating in the "paddling" that always accompanies the pep band's version of Hawai'i Five-O.

UCLA's team, sitting just below former UH All-American Robyn Ah Mow-Santos during Saturday's second match, rose as one to cheer Hawai'i's Olympic silver medalist — a touching and spontaneous gesture even the shy Ah Mow acknowledged with a huge grin.

A night later the sixth-ranked Bruins, without their best offensive player and with three starters coming off surgery, beat the 'Bows for the fourth straight time — something they haven't accomplished in nearly 30 years.

Just as they had in their opener against defending national champion PSU, the 11th-ranked Rainbows (1-2) showed plenty of persistence, but came up short when it was time to close. It left the players and coaches encouraged by the effort, but discouraged by the results.

UH coach Dave Shoji pointed to one phase of the game — ball control — as both the most and least promising aspect of opening weekend.

"Our ball control was way better," he said. "That just puts our setter in a better position. We were 'in system' more than we've ever been. That allows hitters to be more successful."

But, against Penn State and particularly UCLA, late breakdowns cost the 'Bows dearly.

"At the ends of Games 2, 3 and 4 (against UCLA), our ball control just broke down a little bit," Shoji said. "The free balls were six or eight feet off the net. At the end of rallies we were just not making the plays we should be making."

Setter Dani Mafua felt the inability to close was the only negative to come out of the weekend. "Not being able to finish against UCLA, and even Penn State," she said. "If we just eliminate those errors we should be able to beat them. Beat them all."

And, while all three opposing coaches talked about Hawai'i's improved versatility and depth, the Rainbow Wahine talked about something more personal.

"Our team formed a more significant bond, which might be more important than a win," Jayme Lee said. "We stayed together through hard times."

It won't get much easier this weekend. Hawai'i opens the Honolulu Advertiser Challenge tomorrow against 12th-ranked Minnesota, an unbeaten team Shoji sees as a younger version of Penn State. Wyoming was winless last weekend, but Cincinnati is 3-0. Coach Reed Sunahara, a Hilo High graduate, has taken the Bearcats to the NCAA Tournament four times in his eight years as head coach, but is 0-2 against Shoji, one of his closest coaching friends.

QUICK SETS

Ticket prices have been downsized for this volleyball season, with the most popular ticket — general admission upper level — cut 25 percent, to $12. Smaller cuts were made on nearly every other ticket price.

Liz Ka'aihue, the starting UH libero last year as a freshman, will not play again this week as she tries to heal a sore knee. Freshmen Brittany Hewitt, Emily Maeda and Sarah Prather could red-shirt. They were the only others who did not see action last weekend.

Minnesota's Saturday doubleheader has moved up an hour. The Gophers now play Cincinnati at 11 a.m. and Wyoming at 1 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. There is no admission charge for those matches.