As sixth-ranked Hawaii heads into its final Western Athletic Conference volleyball tournament, coach Dave Shoji does not have to look far to find one of the things he will not miss when his team moves to the Big West next year.

"I’m not going to miss this tournament," Shoji says. "The tournament is really not needed. Coaches have been clamoring to administrators to drop this tournament. It doesn’t do anybody any good as far as trying to qualify for the NCAA tournament. All the teams can use the weekend to pump up their RPI by playing a team outside the conference. Who wants to play somebody three times in a year?"

The Rainbow Wahine (26-1) take a 21-match winning streak into their final tournament, which opens Monday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. As the top seed, they get an opening-round bye and play the winner of the Utah State-Fresno State match Tuesday.

The Aggies upset Hawaii in last year’s tournament championship. It was the most shocking upset in the Wahine’s incredibly dominant 16-year WAC history. After falling to Brigham Young in the first two tournament finals, they won the next 12 titles. If they run the table this next week, it will be the ninth year they have gone unbeaten against WAC competition.

Last regular season, they didn’t lose a set before Utah State gave the WAC one of its greatest moments.

Hawaii won’t miss much about the conference. What it will miss might surprise.

"I think I’ll miss the long bus rides. They’re kind of fun, that’s why," says junior Emily Maeda, referring to real "road" trips to Ruston, La., between Fresno, Calif., and Reno, Nev., and the Logan (Utah)-Moscow (Idaho) express. "We get to bond a lot, talk story."

Added sophomore Kaela Goodman: "The bonding is something good, but what I liked is … I don’t think I would have ever been able to see those parts of Louisiana otherwise. It’s something different others can’t say they’ve done."

Shoji calls the WAC a rare opportunity to "experience Smalltown USA." He will also miss "a lot of frequent-flyer miles." The atmosphere at New Mexico State and the amiable, close-knit bunch of coaches are about the only other things Shoji and his team can come up with that they will miss.

"The volleyball has been rather forgettable," Shoji says. "We just haven’t been challenged enough. Sometimes it probably hurt us. But if you look back to 2009, we got to the final four. Maybe it didn’t hurt us too much."

Hawaii has been to five final fours since joining the WAC in 1996, but the last of its four national championships came in 1987. UH was in the Big West then, when it was arguably the best conference in the country. That has changed, but the Big West still has it over the WAC.

The Wahine moved up a spot, from eighth to seventh, in this week’s NCAA RPI (power rating). New Mexico State is the only other WAC team in the top 100, at 63rd. Idaho, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, is 103rd and Fresno is next at 145.

In contrast, the Big West has four teams in the top 100 and all but UC Riverside are inside the top 152. Conference champion Long Beach State has won its last 11 and moved back into the Top 25. The 49ers, heading to their 25th straight NCAA tournament, have a Big West-best RPI of 41.

An opponent with an RPI inside 50 is what Shoji looks to schedule, which means NMSU might be the only WAC team in Hawaii’s nonconference future for now.

At this point, though, the Wahine will focus on their final WAC tournament and beyond. What will the WAC miss next year?

Not the long plane ride, Utah State coach Grayson DuBose says, but pretty much everything else.

"Hawaii brought attention to our conference. When you played them, people knew about it," DuBose said. "They are a consistent program, that each year gets recognized and has a great following. Playing in the Stan Sheriff is a great experience for our team and staff. It is not often that you get that type of experience — huge, knowledgeable crowds.

"And, Hawaii is always a challenge to play. They don’t make a lot of errors and you have to play your best against them to give yourself a chance. But the thing I will miss the most is competing against a legend like Coach Shoji. It is not often you get to compete against a guy in the Hall of Fame. He has always been very kind to me over the years and I have appreciated that. I have a ton of respect for the body of work he has established over the years, it really is amazing. To have sustained what he has for as long as he has, he’s a legend."

Notes

» The WAC and website partner NeuLion will stream the first two days of the conference tournament. Viewers can sign up at WAC.tv. Cost is $9.95 each day. Wednesday’s championship will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 4 p.m. Monday’s first-round matches begin at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Semifinals are the following day, with Hawaii playing the late match (5:30 p.m.).

» Hawaii will take an NCAA-best 55-match regular-season conference winning streak into next season, when it re-joins the Big West.

» Junior Brittany Hewitt moved into ninth on UH’s career blocks list last week, passing Karrie Trieschman (419) and Kari Gregory (422). With 424 blocks, Hewitt needs four to catch Kanoe Kamana‘o to move into seventh ahead of Olympian Heather Bown.

» UH continues to lead the country in attendance, with an average of 6,497. Nebraska is next at 4,637.

» The NCAA Selection Show is next Sunday on ESPNews, beginning at 1 p.m. The 64-team bracket will be announced along with subregional host sites. UH has put in a bid to host the first and second rounds Dec. 1-2. It will host a regional Dec. 9-10, as will Florida, Kentucky and Minnesota. The final four is Dec. 15 and 17 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.