As the first month of the volleyball season ends, with 25th-ranked Pepperdine here for matches against fourth-ranked Hawai'i tomorrow and Saturday, the Rainbow Wahine are focusing on the big picture while sweating the little stuff.

All the hours of hitting, blocking and defensive drills blur together. What stands out in all its vivid simplicity is the goal to be as good as possible at the end of the season.

The dicey part this week is to embrace all the good that came out of Saturday's sweep of then-10th-ranked Stanford and still be critical enough to remember the weekend before, when No. 2 Texas and then-No. 10 Cal embarrassed the 'Bows.

There is lots to learn from each week, particularly when you are about to take on your seventh ranked opponent in 10 matches.

"I sense a lot of confidence now," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I know you shouldn't feel good when your team loses a match to Cal and everybody was down about it. We shouldn't have lost that match, so the win against Stanford was a confidence-booster for everybody."

Added UH freshman Brittany Hewitt: "I honestly don't know what happened against Cal, but it's a good thing it happened. It encouraged us to push ourselves."

The Waves have been as erratic as Hawai'i. They opened with an upset of then-No. 24 Colorado State in Fort Collins, then fell to lowly Army in five last weekend. Shoji calls them an "enigma." It is a word he hopes no one will use for his team again this season.

He and his players know it "might not be humanly possible" to duplicate the remarkable match they played against Stanford, and ninth-ranked UCLA two weeks earlier. But they want to make sure they try.

"Your mentality can be just as good," Shoji said. "Maybe one or two players will have off nights, but if the mentality is good and everybody has got the same goal ... you might not play great every night, but if you can start grinding points out you will be in the match.

"I think you can grind every week. We have to do that in the WAC."

Pepperdine is the last non-conference opponent Hawai'i plays before the postseason. Once the Western Athletic Conference starts — next Thursday against Boise State — it is back to trying to get better against opponents that sometimes are much worse.

That is a grind, and something the Rainbow Wahine have to get over to improve. They might not hit .422 again this weekend, as they did last. Their middles might not go wild, as they did against Stanford. But somehow, somewhere, they have to get better ... and win.

Pepperdine lost two starters from a team that went to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament last year. That includes third-team All-American Julie Rubenstein, who led the West Coast Conference in kills and points. WCC Defensive Player of the Year Stevi Robinson and Freshman of the Year Kim Hill — nearly a foot taller than Robinson at 6-4 — are back.

Pepperdine has lost the last seven against Hawai'i, but the last two — in 2006 — went five sets. Waves' coach Nina Matthies, a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall Fame, just won her 500th match, in her 27th year.

NOTES

No. 7 UCLA rallied past host Pepperdine, 24-26, 25-14, 25-15, 25-22, last night in Malibu, Calif.

Hawai'i ranks seventh nationally in hitting (.301), 10th in assists (13.31) and 16th in kills (14.13). Senior Amber Kaufman is seventh in hitting (.460) and junior Dani Mafua seventh in assists (11.75). Freshman Brittany Hewitt is ninth in blocks (1.52) and senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru 11th in aces (0.59).

Season-ticket holders in all UH sports can buy half off adult, upper-level tickets (maximum of eight) to the Pepperdine matches. Tickets must be purchased at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office and advance purchases are encouraged, since supplies are limited. Other restrictions apply. There are also "Family Pack" and Group Ticket Packages. Visit HawaiiAthletics.com and click on "Fan Promotions & Ticket Discounts" for information.

Hawaiian Telcom, the match sponsor tomorrow, will distribute pompoms at Gate A before the match. Bank of Hawaii, the match sponsor Saturday, will give "Rally Towels" to the first 1,000 fans.