The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team has even more reasons than coach Dave Shoji has victories to do well in the NCAA Women's Volleyball final four that opens tomorrow.

And, that's saying a lot for somebody with 1,016 wins.

High among them being the need for the Rainbow Wahine to reintroduce themselves on the national stage. For a program that hasn't won a national championship since 1987, Tampa, Fla., this week's site of the final four, is the place to stand and shout out a reminder of who the Rainbow Wahine are.

It is an opportunity to say with resonance: Remember us — and let it echo for a while before the national elite.

When you are UH, 2,500 miles from your nearest Division I competition, it is easy to get over looked and, yes, even dismissed or forgotten. Even when you have four national championship banners hanging in the rafters of the Stan Sheriff Center, a history of producing All-Americans and leading the nation in attendance.

For all of those things, the Rainbow Wahine are 22 years removed from their last national championship, not to mention 13 years away from the last NCAA title match and six seasons separated from their last final four. With all of that as a backdrop, this week's appearance is both huge and overdue.

Here the Rainbow Wahine are some 4,696 miles from home and traveling far and wide on the NCAA's credit card to boot. And there is a delicious irony in that.

The NCAA, by its stated postseason travel policy and by deed has packed the Rainbow Wahine off the island for the entirety of the postseason for three seasons now. UH annually has not only the longest but usually one of the toughest trails to conquer.

That the Nittany Lions are a unanimous No. 1 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association final regular-season poll (ever try getting 60 coaches to agree on anything?) says a lot about the esteem they are held in. Not to mention the immensity of the task that awaits Hawai'i.

So how sweet would it be now for UH to knock off the reigning and unbeaten national champion, Penn State? How loud of a statement would it be for the Rainbow Wahine to take down the 36-0 Nittany Lions five time zones from Mänoa?

That would be worth far more than a string of 10 consecutive WAC Tournament titles. That might even get the NCAA selection committee's attention. Who knows, that might, just maybe, even put UH in a whole new light. No guarantees of course, since this is, after all, the NCAA we're talking about.

But if there was ever a way for UH to put its best foot forward for now and the future, this final four would be the place and Penn State would definitely be the opponent.