It has taken three matches but Hawaii feels it has begun to find itself, its identity, its “teamness” this volleyball season. In many respects, the Rainbow Wahine didn’t recognize the group that was playing the first two days of last week’s Texaco Invitational, wondering “who da guys” on the Stan Sheriff Center Teraflex when losing in five to Marquette then losing — badly — to No. 22 San Diego in three.

Those imposters were replaced on Sunday, in time for the 75th meeting with UCLA, helped by a 90-minute tough-love session in Gym I immediately after the loss to the Toreros. While Hawaii didn’t complete the comeback against the Bruins — giving up the final six points in a five-set defeat — “I think it showed our potential, our capability to become a really great team,” senior hitter Kalei Greeley said Tuesday as Hawaii prepared for this week’s 30th Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

“I’m excited to be back in the gym and very encouraged by what we saw (Sunday),” said Greeley, who played for the first time this season against UCLA. “That was more like our team. We didn’t look like ourselves, didn’t feel like ourselves the other nights.

“We’re not thinking about last weekend. We’re focused on this week.”

It’s a quick turnaround for the Wahine, 0-3 for the first time since 1980 and unranked for the first time since 2014. The focus was on the positives that Hawaii took away from Sunday, “as close to a win as you can get without it being a win,” assistant coach Angelica Ljungqvist said. “The team responded so well to what we talked about Saturday night. They came out like a team for the first time. They played with heart and joy.

“We’re proud of the way they turned it around. That first weekend is not going to define us.”

“Everyone is coming into the week with positive feeling,” added senior Emily Maglio, the lone Wahine on last week’s all-tournament team. “We ended the weekend playing more like us.”

Hawaii did look more like itself in terms of positions against the Bruins. Maglio and junior Casey Castillo were playing musical spots when both were used at middle and on the outside. They settled in on Sunday in what are considered their natural positions, Maglio in the middle and Castillo on the outside.

First-year coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said that likely is part of the lineup for Thursday against Western Carolina.

“We’re still looking at things, the options are always open, but we feel that it’s a core lineup that we can go back to,” she said. “We know things aren’t going to come easy.”

There is one thing that Ah Mow-Santos has asked of her players: Stay off social media.

“I tell them don’t start believing what other people say,” she said. “A lot of people have their own opinions, and they’re entitled to them, but I tell them don’t start believing what others say, either good or bad.

“If it’s good, it might bump up your head too big. If it’s bad, it will bring you down.

“I tell them it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We’ve got the whole season ahead of us.”

TEAMS IN THE HAWAIIAN AIRLINES CLASSIC

Hawaii (0-3)

Coach: Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, the former Wahine All-American setter, is in her first season in Manoa.

Outlook: The Rainbow Wahine are in unfamiliar territory as the only winless team in this week’s field, having lost to Marquette in five, then-No. 22 San Diego in three, and then-No. 13 UCLA in five. It is first time Hawaii has opened 0-3 since 1980, that season starting in Salt Lake City.

The Wahine, preseason No. 20, fell out of this week’s poll and are unranked for the first time since 2014.

The Wahine have won their signature event 11 times, the last in 2013. Hawaii finished second to UCLA last season, with middle Emily Maglio and setter Norene Iosia being named to the all-tournament team.

Senior hitter Kalei Greeley, all-tournament in 2015, made her season debut last Sunday against the 13th-ranked Bruins, finishing with eight digs while playing only in the back row. It was the seventh consecutive loss to a ranked team for Hawaii dating back to 2015.

Named to last week’s Texaco Invitational all-tournament team was senior Emily Maglio, who was used as a middle and outside hitter during the three-day event. She was the only Wahine named to the all-tournament team, finishing with a combined 34 kills and 16 blocks.

In the 75th meeting between UH and UCLA, Hawaii got career nights from four players: junior hitter Casey Castillo with 15 kills, senior hitter Kendra Koelsch with 10 kills, senior libero Savanah Kahakai with 28 digs, and junior hitter McKenna Granato with 19 digs to go along with a match-high 29 kills.

Making a splashy debut was freshman middle Sky Williams, who finished with a combined 22 kills and 21 blocks en route to Big West freshman of the week honors. Williams had 12 blocks in the opener against the Golden Eagles, the most since Olivia Magill’s 12 against St. John’s in 2014.

This will be Hawaii’s first meeting with Western Carolina and the Wahine are 1-0 against South Dakota, with the Coyotes’ lone visit to Honolulu coming in 2013. Hawaii, 11-0 against Utah, last defeated the Utes 3-1 in the 2004 Western Athletic Conference tournament title match.

Western Carolina (1-2)

Coach: Karen Glover (81-114) is in her seventh season at the Cullowhee, N.C., school.

Outlook: The Catamounts swept Charleston Southern in last Friday’s opener then dropped Saturday’s doubleheader to Towson 3-1 and Jacksonville State 3-0 to finish third in their Catamount Classic.

WCU relied on its youth on opening weekend, with sophomore hitter Abigail Velt being named to the all-tournament team after a combined 31 kills, 31 digs and five aces. Sophomore libero Meagan Sanchez finished the tournament with 47 digs and freshman setter Hannah Price, pressed into duty when senior Jo-Leigh VerVelde was injured in Set 3 against Towson, recorded her first career double-double in the loss to Jacksonville State (28 assists, 12 digs).

Freshman middle Gabby Gray also had a successful collegiate debut with 20 kills and 23 digs. Freshman middle Morgan Williams is the tallest of the Catamounts at 6 feet 2, one of four WCU players listed at 6 feet or taller.

South Dakota (1-2)

Coach: Leanne Williamson (60-37) is in her fourth season at the Vermillion, S.D., campus. USD, which moved to Division I in 2011, won its first Summit League regular-season title last season but lost to Denver in the league tournament.

Outlook: The Coyotes opened at the Rumble in the Rockies in Laramie, Wyo., and were swept by host Wyoming on Friday. USD split Saturday’s doubleheader, a 3-0 loss to Portland and a 3-0 sweep of Abilene Christian.

Junior hitter Hayley Dotseth had double-doubles in all three matches, including 11 kills and 10 digs in the win over the Wildcats. Senior setter Brittany Jessen finished with her first double-double of the season with 42 assists and 13 digs against the Wildcats.

Dotseth and Jessen are two of the four returning Coyote starters who won a program-best 25 matches. Jessen is the two-time league setter of the year, sophomore Elizabeth Loschen was the freshman of the year. USD graduated middle blocker Kelly Law, the 2016 league player of the year, and also lost its top libero in Lauren Mattison to injury this year.

No. 22 Utah (2-1)

Coach: Beth Launier (521-336) is in her 28th season at the Salt Lake City school. On the bench for her second season is assistant Malia Shoji, niece of retired Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji.

Outlook: The Utes moved up a spot in Monday’s AVCA poll, the 11th consecutive week — dating back to 2016 — Utah has been ranked, the program’s longest streak since 2005-07 when it was ranked for 18 straight weeks.

The Utes opened at the Bluegrass Battle in Lexington, Ky., with sweeps of Cincinnati and Arkansas sandwiching a five-set loss to then-No. 14 Kentucky. Against the host Wildcats, senior hitter Adora Anae (Kahuku) had 26 kills; she finished the tournament with 57 kills, hit .760 in the sweep of the Bearcats (19 kills, no errors, 25 attempts), and was named to the all-tournament team.

Anae, named to the all-Pac-12 preseason team, has had at least 10 kills in her past 29 matches with double-digit kills in 74 of 98 career matches. She is ranked No. 3 in the program’s record book with 1,430 kills, No. 5 in career attempts (3,649) and No. 11 in digs (945). As a junior, she led the Pac-12 in kills (592), kills per set (4.70) and points per set (5.22).

Sophomore setter Bailey Choy (‘Iolani) had 107 assists. Freshman middle Phoebe Grace (Kahuku) did not play.

Among the Utes’ seven returnees is senior middle Tawnee Luafalemana.

The Utes were picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 in the coaches preseason poll behind Washington, Stanford and Oregon. It was the program’s highest preseason ranking since joining the conference in 2012.