October is not over, one of its best players is still out and its first Big West Conference season in 17 years has not hit the halfway mark, but ninth-ranked Hawaii is starting to focus on the volleyball postseason.

Practice is all about slamming serves and speeding up the offense — two aspects the Rainbow Wahine (15-2) did poorly in their eighth straight Big West win last week over Cal State Northridge.

This week, they put their 63-match conference winning streak on the line Thursday against UC Davis (10-10) and Saturday against Pacific (16-4). Both matches begin at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Davis and UOP are part of the five-team, three-loss logjam behind Hawaii. After squeezing out five-set wins in two of their first three matches back in the Big West, the Wahine have separated themselves from a field that is otherwise remarkably balanced — and beating on each other with little rhyme, reason or regard for the conference’s plummeting power ranking.

"We’re not really focusing on the other team now. We’ve got a three-game lead, so we’re going to win the conference. I don’t think there is any doubt about that," UH coach Dave Shoji said in an uncharacteristically brazen moment. "We have bigger problems than that. That’s the focus right now."

For the first time in two weeks, the most serious problem is not sophomore Jane Croson’s suspension for breaking undisclosed team rules. Shoji told the team the end of her "indefinite" suspension is in sight.

"There is a plan in place that will allow her to come back," Shoji said. "I’d rather not say when. If everything goes well, she’ll be back with the team soon."

Meanwhile, Hawaii is working on an attack that can make a dent in its NCAA tournament opposition six weeks from now.

"We’re working on some things that we feel we need to do against a big, Pac-12 kind of team," Shoji says. "We know we’ll have to play somebody big and talented maybe as early as the first round. Our goal is to speed up things. We’re going to make some mistakes now with our offense, trying to speed it up. … You might call it high-risk, but that’s the way we have to play if we’re going to beat anybody in the playoffs."

Pacific was 33rd in the NCAA’s first power ranking two weeks ago, second only to Hawaii (21) in the Big West. The Wahine are No. 22 this week, while the Tigers have dropped to 53rd. One of UOP’s losses came at Davis, whose RPI has fallen to 132 despite the presence of Victoria Lee, who leads the Big West in blocking, and Allison Whitson, sixth in kills.

The Tigers are coming off a five-set loss to UC Santa Barbara, a match that featured 204 digs — 26 by Kamehameha graduate and UOP libero Koala Matsuoka. Pacific is ranked third nationally in digs, at 18.53 per set; Hawaii is 206th, at 14.35.

Notes

» Fullerton’s Kayla Neto is the Big West Player of the Week after her double-double helped the Titans beat Long Beach State for the first time in 30 years, a span of 59 matches. The 49ers have suspended starting middle Alma Serna for "personal reasons" and are listing her as inactive.

» Hawaii’s match at Long Beach on Oct. 26 will be broadcast live on FSN Prime Ticket (Ch. 228). It will begin at 4 p.m. in Hawaii and is the first match covered as part of a new television deal brokered between the Big West and Fox Sports.

» UH coach Dave Shoji has 1,091 wins. He needs 16 to pass former UCLA coach Andy Banachowski as the winningest women’s volleyball coach in NCAA Division I history. The Wahine would have to reach the final four for Shoji to break the record this season.

» UH leads the nation in average attendance at 6,793. Nebraska, the next-best school in average attendance, is 2,373 behind.