In the mid-1990s, Yuval Katz brought Hawai'i volleyball to rock-star status.

Clay Stanley is an Olympic gold medalist who earns a seven-figure salary playing professional volleyball.

And UH freshman Eric Miyamoto is the son of Phil "Abbott" Miyamoto of the famed radio duo "Rabbit and Abbott."

What they all have in common is a role in what has become a tradition for Warrior rookies.

In Mike Wilton's 16 seasons as UH head coach, every first-year player is responsible for mopping the court and setting up the nets for practices. No rookie gets a pass, not even those whose biographies include Fab-50 honors.

Last week, outside hitters Gus Tuaniga and Steven Hunt became the first pair of true freshmen to start a UH season opener since 2000. This week, their pre-practice chores were nothin' but net.

"I don't really like it, but it's my job as a freshman," Tuaniga said. "You have to do it."

Hunt said the coaches never mentioned the tradition during recruiting pitches.

"No, they didn't," Hunt said, "but the first day of practice, they sure did."

Their jobs were assigned the first day of fall camp. Thing was, many of the small-group sessions started by the dawn's early light.

"It's not great fun," Hunt said. "We have to come in an hour early every day."

The most difficult task is aligning the antennae, which takes thread-through-the-eye precision.

"If the antenna is not through the right way, or if it comes off in practice, you have to change it," Hunt said. "You have to make sure you do it the right way."

Senior outside hitter Jim Clar, the team captain, said the tradition has fostered team unity.

"It's part of the program," Clar said. "Everybody who has been in this program, when they were freshmen, they had to put up the nets. It's nice. It shows that people here have put in their time and paid their dues. Nobody is exempt from anything, no matter how good they are. They have to do the work, all of the work that we did, too."

The Warriors are expected to start three freshmen against third-ranked Pepperdine in tomorrow's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener. The teams meet in a rematch Friday night.

Tuaniga and Hunt will start on the outside. Jarrod Lofy, a second-year freshman, is expected to start in place of Matt "Dragon" Rawson.

Rawson is suffering from a subluxed left (non-swinging) shoulder in which the joint is prone to popping out of the socket.

Rawson aggravated the injury during last week's Outrigger Hotels Invitational. He left in the second sets of the Ohio State and Southern California matches. He did not play in Saturday's match against top-ranked Penn State, the defending national champion.

Rawson also did not practice Monday. But yesterday he wore a brace and heavy bandage while participating in scrimmages. His availability is still in question.

Clar is hopeful of being available to play. He has an inflamed rotator cuff in his right (swinging) shoulder. He received a cortisone shot the past Friday.

"Obviously, my role is going to be limited," said Clar, who can play all three outside positions. "Hopefully, I can suit up. It's hard to be the leader of the team if you're not suiting up. ... I want to be there for the team."

Wilton said Clar is capable of becoming a coach in the future. "Jimbo is genuinely a good person," Wilton said. "He's accountable."