Ironic that the NCAA would send away a Hawaii volleyball team that refused to go away all season.

Of all the emotions swirling in the eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine’s heads after Saturday’s devastating five-set loss to fifth-ranked Washington in the NCAA tournament’s second round, anger was the most intriguing.

They will deal with the disappointment of letting a match point get away and losing popular senior Emily Maeda and all their individual frustration. It is part of the game.

But they were truly ticked off that the NCAA committee refused to award them one of 16 seeds and the chance to host a subregional that goes with it despite the Wahine winning 20 consecutive matches. A 27-3 team that tenaciously kept winning simply by sticking together through good and bad had no control over that.

Dave Shoji, who will become the sport’s winningest coach next season and guides the planet’s only revenue-producing college volleyball program, was angrier still.

"I felt for our players because they earned a seed, they earned a homecourt advantage," Shoji said early Sunday morning. "I thought Washington and Hawaii should be in the regional. If they want to tell us that we’re not good enough, which is essentially what they’re telling us, that’s a copout.

"There is no criteria that they list we didn’t meet to be able to be a seeded team. We were 26-2, won our last 10, had no bad losses, beat the No. 2 seed in the tournament (Stanford). On and on and on.

"If they want to say it’s financial, they didn’t want to bring three teams to Hawaii, they need to say that. But they needed to seed us. I thought they should have seeded us and if they didn’t want us to host send us to San Diego, send us to Santa Clara, send us somewhere with the seed but not the homecourt advantage.

"That’s what they could have done and should have done. But to tell my team they weren’t good enough to be in the top 16 teams is absurd … to disrespect this group of athletes is tragic to me."

According to the NCAA website, "Per the established bracketing principles the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host."

The Wahine’s helpless feeling will linger long into the offseason, which will be a crucial time for this team that could have eight seniors next year.

Shoji has to find a weapon for the right side. His four middles must make huge strides. Emily Hartong, Ali Longo and Mita Uiato played at a remarkably high level all season. Jade Vorster was relentless in her pursuit of improvement. Jane Croson came back from suspension stronger.

But in 2013, the Wahine have to find a better balance. Hartong and Croson, as awesome as they were over the weekend, cannot be 80 percent of the offense if Hawaii is serious about winning a fifth national title before Shoji retires.

Today, he and the team are still feeling the pain of ending their last two seasons with five-set losses. Last year, it was USC in Hawaii. This year, Washington at Seattle. Shoji believed his team would win both, and got the players to buy in.

"I had a feeling we were going to shock the world (Saturday) and we came so close," he said. "It was just fun to watch our team have so much fun out there and play well.

"We had a swing for the match. If you were to ask for one thing it would be Hartong swinging for the match. That ball could have just as easily gone off Amanda Gil’s arms and into the bleachers as going straight down. It could have gone either way, but it went their way. And Game 5 they just made the plays, they made several plays. At 8-7 we switch sides and miss two serves and it just wasn’t meant to be."

Next fall Texas, UCLA, San Diego, Arizona and Northwestern are among the teams coming to Hawaii. Shoji believes "everybody in the Big West will be a little better."

The Rainbow Wahine will supplement their depth with Punahou setter Tayler Higgins and 6-foot-4 hitter Nikki Taylor, out of Kaiser. And they will always remember how close they came over 2 hours and 29 minutes Saturday night in Alaska Airlines Arena.

"That team is going to be so awesome next year," Maeda said. "Better than this year because they’ve had experience playing with each other a year. It’s going to be a great season. I want them to believe that. I know they do."

They will, when the anger subsides. This team had what Maeda called "an attitude — not a bad attitude, but it was a team that just believed it can get it done. It was really inspiring to be on a team like this with girls who really believe in each other."

That elusive quality contributed to Shoji’s anger, and helplessness.

"I told them it was just an enjoyable team to be with," he said. "There was no drama. Jane had her issues, but Jane doesn’t have an ego. Jane had an issue, but it didn’t drag the team down. She came back really strong from it and everybody supported Jane. Jane was never a problem.

"Other than that, it was just fun to be around this team. It was low-maintenance all year. And the kids that weren’t playing as much as they wanted to, they never caused a problem. We never had an issue with playing time or attitude problems."

Turns out, the Wahine’s only issue was out of their control.