Brittany Hewitt inspired confidence in the middle a year ago, leading the country in blocking and accumulating a variety of gaudy numbers that helped Hawaii win a school-record 62 straight sets and soar to No. 3 in the volleyball rankings.

This year, the Rainbow Wahine are desperately seeking confidence in their second middle blocker. The position has been morphing daily as they approach their Aug. 26 opener.

Emily Hartong seized the spot last year and followed Hewitt as Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. But Hartong’s athleticism and frenetic work ethic leave her in the rare position of being No. 2 on the depth chart at three positions now — middle, left and right.

Her prospects outside looked good until practice started. Senior Alexis Forsythe decided not to play her final year and, a few days later, sophomore Kristiana Tuaniga’s left shin was in an air cast. Tuaniga, a 2009 Fab 50 recruit who averaged three blocks and hit .647 as a high school senior, might not be able to jump for a month.

That leaves freshmen Kalei Adolpho and Jade Vorster fighting for the second spot, which might be problematic.

"You don’t really want to start the season being inexperienced in the middle," UH head coach Dave Shoji said. "It’s just too glaring."

That brings Hartong front and center in the middle, again.

"She is going to play for us," associate coach Scott Wong said of Hartong. "She is so versatile she could play the whole game. She’s traditionally a middle, but she has developed into a pretty good left-side hitter. It’s going to be interesting to see if, besides Brittany, can one of the other middles — ‘TK’ (Tuaniga), Kalei or Jade — develop into a starting middle that we can feel really confident in. If that’s the case, that will free her (Hartong) up to go outside."

Wong is confident it will happen. For now, he values consistency over go-to hitting and shutdown blocking from that position. Hewitt, a second-team All-American last season, is expected to bring that.

She averaged 1.67 blocks a set last year — one less than the entire team. Her career average of 1.51 leaves her behind just two Olympians (Heather Bown and Deitre Collins), a national player of the year (Angelica Ljungquist) and two first-team All-Americans (Victoria Prince and Suzanne Eagye) in the UH record book.

"Blocking is a lot of quickness, the ability to read and where you put your hands," Wong said. "Better blockers block the ball with their hands, not their arms. Brittany is good at all three. She wants to get better."

As in, get there faster, read the setter better and seal the block quicker. Coaches also would like to see another 24 aces — or more — but want her to cut back the 38 errors on her high-risk serve. Hewitt hit .365 last season, going over .400 in half the matches, and over .700 four times. Those crazy numbers need to get crazier for Hawaii to be home for its regional in December, and get back to the final four.

Hartong’s live arm, and a vertical jump that might be 3 inches higher than last year, compensate for what she lacks in experience. She is not as big as Hewitt and doesn’t jump as high as Adolpho — the reigning state high jump champion — but she is too valuable not to play …somewhere.

Adolpho also offers a huge upside and has made the biggest strides early, but she had to. She was all-state in volleyball, basketball and track in high school, but the divide between Molokai High and one of the country’s premier college programs is wider than the Kaiwi Channel. Still, her gifts give coaches goosebumps.

"Physically, aside from height, she has everything you want in a middle hitter," Wong said. "She’s quick, jumps really well, got a good arm. Kalei has that ability to make changes quickly. It’s because of her athleticism, and she processes everything we give her and makes changes in practices.

"She’s got great potential. She could be an All-American middle blocker the way she’s progressing. If she continues to do so, she is really going to be a big force to be reckoned with. But is it going to be this year or is it going to be next year?"

Tuaniga’s health has left her in limbo for now. Wong describes her as "lightning fast and touching pretty high," which helps her offensively, particularly when she attacks behind the setter. But her block has held her back, and progress has been put on hold.

"The question mark for ‘TK’ is her blocking," Wong said. "Can she shut down an opposing team’s offense with four attackers coming at her. And if she can’t shut them down can she slow them a little? That’s something we’re looking forward to seeing when she is able to practice consistently. We’ll get her back and she will get a fair shot."

Vorster has become the wild card. At 6-feet-4 she is the tallest Wahine, but hardly the most imposing. She provides a "monster block when she’s there," Wong said. "It’s getting there." She also needs to work on her strength. Extra time in the weight room since she enrolled in January has helped. Now she, Adolpho and whoever else is healthy and in the mix have to master the skills Hewitt has worked on so diligently the past three years.