Tonight’s volleyball season opener will look much like every other, but it won’t be the same. It can’t be, especially for Stanford and its coach, John Dunning.

There will be a large, adoring, curious Stan Sheriff Center crowd for eighth-ranked Hawaii, which hosts the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational. Albany — UH’s first opponent — ended last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The sixth-ranked Cardinal went out in the second. Saint Mary’s is picked to finish first in its conference.

The tournament teams represent the finest in women’s volleyball, playing in front of the sport’s finest crowds, again. But there will also be the initials "SW" on Stanford’s uniforms.

Samantha Alohilani Wopat, who would have been a junior with twin sister Carly on this Cardinal team, died March 25 after a medical emergency at her Stanford home. Sharon Kasser-Stephens and Cathey Scotlan, who played for Dunning at Pacific, died just days before and after Wopat.

Kasser-Stephens lost her long battle with breast cancer. Scotlan collapsed in her apartment while playing professionally in Switzerland in 1993. She wasn’t found for more than a week, but was recovering in a Swiss hospital when her tracheotomy tube clogged, causing cardiac arrest and sending her into a coma for the final 20 years of her life.

"There’s been a lot to see your way through … ," says Dunning. "What everybody in our program has been through has been indescribable. When someone you are close to is no longer with you, it is a hard, hard thing to experience."

Dunning is one of Dave Shoji’s closest coaching friends. Their teams had a remarkable rivalry in Hawaii’s first turn in the Big West. Over time, and a shared passion for golf, they have become good friends. Dunning hired Shoji’s daughter, Cobey, as his first director of volleyball operations. Shoji’s sons, Kawika and Erik, were always around Dunning’s office when they went to Stanford. Erik still calls him "Uncle John."

The Hawaii coach concedes he has never been through "anything close" to Dunning’s experience. He didn’t even know what to say to his friend.

"I’m sure John thinks about it all the time," Shoji says. "When you are that close to players, spend that much time around each other, it’s like losing somebody from your family.

"John is a really caring guy. I’m sure he feels the pain every day."

The start of a new season offers an opportunity to at least begin to move forward. Dunning’s hope is that his team, far beyond wins and losses, has a "great experience" this season. Like Shoji, who is trying to blend in four new starters, he wants his players to come out tonight and have fun.

"Our team last year played young and went through a lot," Dunning says. "We were a good team, but I think we just needed maturity to be as good as we could be. We are much more mature now. We have been through a lot. We lost close matches. We don’t want to do that anymore. I am most interested in seeing our team walk out and really enjoy playing and play the way we can, because I think we can be pretty good."

All-region juniors Carly Wopat and Rachel Williams combined for 54 percent of Stanford’s offense and 75 percent of its blocks last season. They are joined by five high school All-Americans, who make up PrepVolleyball.com’s No. 1 recruiting class.

Shoji settled on his starters some 24 hours before the opener. All-conference setter and hitter Mita Uiato and Jane Croson will be the only faces in familiar places. Second-team All-American Emily Hartong will move from middle to left, and Kaela Goodman gets her first start on the right. Kalei Adolpho and Jade Vorster will make up the middle, and Penn State transfer Ali Longo starts at libero, with lone senior Emily Maeda in frequently as defensive specialist.

That lineup could change early and often tonight against Albany. The Great Danes have won at least 20 matches the past seven seasons and are picked to win their seventh America East title. That conference ranked 25th out of 33 in Division I last year, with Albany the only team in the top 200. Albany lost its setter and all-region libero but returns Samantha Brostrom, who made the conference’s all-freshman team.

Saint Mary’s ended last year fourth in the West Coast Conference. It won its last seven, upsetting top-20 teams Pepperdine and San Diego. The Gaels lost just one player and brought in Cal Poly’s Kristina Graven, the 2010 Big West Freshman of the Year, and Danica Mendivil, who was second in kills — to Hawaii transfer Ashley Kastl — for Arizona State last season.

There is lots to learn for all these teams this weekend. For Dunning and his team, that takes on an even deeper meaning.

"It doesn’t matter how old you get, you are still learning every day," Dunning says. "It’s not possible to measure how much we’ve experienced and learned this year. I’m a lot different, I’d say. I know I go through days of my life not happy enough, not enjoying the wonderful life surrounding me enough. I’m trying to do that less often, trying to learn.

"I think it’s making me a better coach, more direct, more open. I try to be more understanding. Inside, I feel different. You have to ask the players if I actually am different, but I feel it and I do the best I can each day."