Every team has its ups and downs at this early stage of the volleyball season, including the ranked foursome that tees off in the 22nd annual Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic tonight at Stan Sheriff Center. But few people understand ups and downs like seniors Amber Kaufman and Destinee Hooker.

Kaufman's fourth-ranked Rainbow Wahine take on 19th-ranked Saint Louis in tonight's late match. It follows a 5 p.m. opener between Hooker's second-ranked Texas Longhorns and No. 10 California.

Last season, the Longhorns were launched into their first final four since 1995 by three All-Americans. Two remain — setter/hitter Ashley Engle and Hooker, who soars among the finest high jumpers in the world. She has four NCAA high jump championships on her resume, the last coming in June when she beat Kaufman by 2 centimeters, or .7874015748 of an inch.

At 6 feet 1, Kaufman is a relatively small middle blocker considered a "power flopper" — as in "Fosbury Flop" technique — in the jumping pit. At 6-4, Hooker is a lanky hitter more known as a "speed flopper."

Both have an innate ability, fine-tuned by years of hard work and coaching, to jump straight up and get their centers of gravity higher than most mortals. Hooker cleared 6 feet, 4.75 inches (1.95 meters) last spring while Kaufman got over 6-4 (1.93), in the two best jumps in the NCAA. The fact that their right arms are ridiculously quick and powerful is almost unfair.

"They both leap and once they are up their presence is intimidating enough," UH track coach Carmyn James said. "If they hit hard, that's a double whammy."

They can and it is. Hooker has eight All-America medals, two in volleyball, and she skipped the 2008 track season to train with USA volleyball. Kaufman is a three-time track All-American capable of becoming the Rainbow Wahine's first two-sport All-American.

Their future could be infinite, in either sport.

"Both have the ability to go to the next Olympics Games in track and field, no doubt about it," James said. "Not just make the team but be among the top 12 in the world and potentially medal. If you get over 2 meters you're going to medal and both are within 2 inches. Considering neither one trains fulltime, that extra 2 inches is definitely do-able."

Texas volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott watches Hooker on the track, in amazement, and anticipates "some fun dynamics" on the court Saturday when Kaufman and Hooker hook up. Both are only scratching the surface of both sports.

"Destinee is just starting to understand volleyball," Elliott said. "She has never been with us in the spring. This basically would be the end of her sophomore season training-wise. She's the only person I've ever seen who can get better without playing, just by getting older."

A look at Classic teams:

NO. 2 TEXAS (2-0)

The Longhorns lost only All-America middle Lauren Paolini from their first final-four team since 1995, but are so deep coach Jerritt Elliott says all 12 players could see time ... Texas needed five to stop then-No. 23 Long Beach State in its opener, with Destinee Hooker (6-4 Sr. OH) going for 18 kills the final three sets, after opening with three kills and four errors the first two ... "It was great to be in that situation," Elliott said of the LBSU match. "We were not playing that well and you don't ever want to go five games, but you learn a lot about building trust and character in those situations." ... Hooker, who can touch 10 feet, 10.5 inches, is averaging 4.38 kills and hitting .347 ... Juliann Faucette (6-2 Jr. OH), the 2007 national Freshman of the Year, is at 3.5 kills and four players average at least one block ... 1-10 against Hawai'i with only win in the 1988 NCAA final.

NO. 4 HAWAI'I (3-0)

Hitting was a highlight in the wins last week, with sophomore Kanani Danielson (5-10 OH) averaging 5.4 kills, hitting over .400 and tying career highs three times, senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru (5-11 OH) showcasing her versatility with 3 kills, 3.5 digs, .300 hitting and a dozen aces, and first-year starter Stephanie Ferrell (6-1 So. OH) slamming her way out of a slump ... Passing was also a virtue with Danielson, Cubi-Otineru and Liz Ka'aihue (5-8 Jr. L) collecting just two serve-reception errors in 164 tries ... Amber Kaufman (6-1 Sr. MB) was a career-best 13-for-17 in one match and freshman Brittany Hewitt (6-3 MB), a two-time Idaho State Player of Year, anchored the blocking and had a block-kill double-double in the second match of her career.

NO. 10 CALIFORNIA (2-1)

Lost two starters off last year's 26-7 squad, which had the program's best-ever record ... reached regional finals and finished ranked in the Top 10 (6) a second straight year ... upset by UC Irvine in season-opener when "we were not ready to play a team that saw a target on our back and kept aiming for bullseyes all night," according to Cal coach Rich Feller ... Two-time All-American Hana Cutura (6-4 Sr. OH) is averaging a team-high 4.67 kills and hitting .307 ... Tarah Murray (6-3 So. OH) is averaging 3.33 kills ... Second-team All-American Carlie Lloyd (5-11 Jr. S) leads Cal in digs, blocks and assists ... has not won a set against Hawai'i in eight meetings.

NO. 19 SAINT LOUIS (2-1)

The Billikens earned their first national ranking last season after upsetting Stanford — their second win over a ranked team in 23 tries ... current ranking is highest in program history ... lost one starter off 29-5 team that was unbeaten in Atlantic-10 ... Third-team All-American Sammi McCloud (6-2 Sr. OH) could finish her career among the SLU Top 10 in five categories ... Megan Boken (5-11 Jr. OH) led a balanced attack last week with 3 kps ... Whitney Behrens (5-4 Sr. L) needs 106 digs to become career leader ... only loss came against top-ranked Penn State, with the Nittany Lions extending their NCAA-record winning streak to 67 and SLU using just seven players ... Saint Louis crowd of 6,106 watched Penn State, nearly tripling the previous attendance record.