On this day during most volleyball seasons, Hawaii would be getting on another plane — or two or three — and heading somewhere colder. This year the Rainbow Wahine, seeded 10th in the NCAA Women’s Championship, are watching the Manoa mist.

Last week they won their first home subregional in eight years. This weekend they host a regional. Teams are coming to them, a rarity for a group that nearly traveled more miles than all its conference opponents combined one year.

If the 31-1 Wahine can upset seventh-seeded Southern California on Friday, then get by Pepperdine or Kansas State on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center, they will reach their fifth final four since 2000. Long Beach State and Santa Clara are the only other non-BCS-conference schools to reach the final four this decade, once each.

Hawaii’s chances this week are not BCS-big. USC won the Pac-12, which sounded better before five of the conference’s seven NCAA teams lost opening week. The Trojans also have three senior All-Americans in Alex Jupiter (first team), Kendall Bateman (second) and Lauren Williams (third).

The Wahine have senior All-American Kanani Danielson, a diverse bunch behind her and lots of good mojo. They haven’t lost in three months because they have found a way, sometimes at the last second, to play their best when they absolutely had to.

"They seem to find a way to win," UH coach Dave Shoji says. "It’s not always pretty and we’re never really dominating, but the longer the match goes the better we are."

It might be trust or timing or talent. Whatever, it has appeared nearly every night. Hawaii has not hammered teams this season. It has survived unscathed but for the UCLA loss three months ago.

"I’ve been able to coach against Hawaii a lot of years," Louisiana Tech coach Matt Sonnichsen said. "In terms of raw talent I’ve seen other teams that had more raw, blatant physicality and talent than this team. But what this team has that I think is special is, what they’d say in the South, a certain ‘somethin’ somethin’.’ They’ve got a good chemistry, a good something in there that has allowed them to be better than the sum of their physical tools."

After hearing Sonnichsen’s comments, UH senior Alexis Griffiths agreed.

"I definitely think we have the chemistry," Griffiths said. "When I first came in we went to (the final four in 2009) … I think we have even better chemistry than that. We’re more in unison, more on the same page. There are no cliques. Everyone is together like that team was.

"But physicality … I think he’s wrong. We have Kanani, are you kidding me? We have Kanani, Teal (Chanteal Satele), Hart (Emily Hartong), Kalei (Adolpho) … We’re a very physical team so I’ll correct him on that one."

The Wahine won’t look physical next to all those 6-foot-3 Trojan frames. They will look tiny, as they did against Colorado State on Friday, giving up at least 2 inches at every position.

So far, they have compensated with quickness and relentlessness. "We are athletic in enough positions," Shoji says, "where we get away with being small."

To upset USC, Hawaii will have to be even quicker, pass well and get in the Trojans’ heads, to say nothing of bothering them with its block. Its serving has to have an impact and its vaunted transition game — CSU coach Tom Hilbert called it "recapturing rallies" — will have to be in sync.

There is little question the crowd will have its back. Hawaii drew 16,478 last week. Nebraska was next, with half that. Half the 16 sites did not reach 4,000 fans for both nights.

Notes

» Ticket packages for both nights of the regional are on sale at a cost of $35 (lower concourse) and $25 (upper). Tickets are on sale Friday for individual matches, at $20 (lower) and $15 (upper). Tickets are available online at hawaiiathletics.com, by phone (944-2697), or at Stan Sheriff Center Box Office (9 a.m.-5 p.m.).

» The combined Ratings Percentage Index (power ranking) of the four teams in almost all 16 subregionals last week was in the mid-100s, with a few striking exceptions.

The RPIs of the four teams in Iowa State’s subregional, won by the fourth-seeded Cyclones over Northern Illinois, Milwaukee and Miami (Fla.), totaled just 89. The subregional at four-time defending NCAA champion Penn State had a combined RPI of 329.

The eighth-seeded Nittany Lions are No. 11 in the RPI. Its opponents were Liberty (145), American (94) and Delaware (79). Two years ago, PSU’s subregional opponents were Binghamton (RPI 180), Army (103) and Penn (91).

All four Mid-America and MAC teams lost last week, along with all three from the Missouri Valley, including sixth-seeded Northern Iowa. The Big Ten has six of its original eight teams in the Sweet 16.