After a phenomenal freshman season, University of Hawai'i sophomore Kanani Danielson was selected Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year yesterday by the nine head coaches. The Kamehameha graduate makes it five straight years a Rainbow Wahine has earned the honor, with Jamie Houston getting it the past two seasons and Kanoe Kamana'o in 2005 and 2006.

Houston, Kamana'o and Danielson were All-Americans, with Danielson earning third-team honors last season. She started every match, averaging three kills and three digs and was a primary passer.

Five Rainbows are on the Preseason all-WAC team, with seniors Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Amber Kaufman, junior Dani Mafua and redshirt sophomore Stephanie Ferrell joining Danielson.

St. Francis graduate Kylie Harrington, a junior at Nevada, is also on the team.

Ferrell did not start last season but was named to the WAC All-Freshman team. Cubi-Otineru, Danielson and Kaufman were on the all-WAC first team and Mafua second team. Mafua and Cubi-Otineru were also All-America honorable mention.

Hawai'i opens the season with the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational, playing Western Michigan (Aug. 28), 20th-ranked Santa Clara (Aug. 29) and 10th-ranked UCLA (Aug. 30). The 'Bows are seventh in the Volleyball Magazine preseason poll, exactly where they finished in last year's final AVCA Top 25 after a 31-4 season.

WAC coaches picked UH to win its 12th consecutive conference championship. The Rainbow Wahine joined the WAC in 1996 and lost to Brigham Young in the tournament final that year and 1997.

Kristiana Tuaniga, Hawai'i's only freshman recruit, is not practicing yet because she has not been cleared by the NCAA. UH coach Dave Shoji hopes she will join two-a-day practices, which started Monday, today or tomorrow.