Under the watchful eye of Robyn Ah Mow serving as head referee, the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team gave fans their first look of this year’s squad at the open Green-White scrimmage on Saturday.

A couple hundred people sat in the lower bowl and watched the team go through a few drills before scrimmaging four sets to 20 points at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Freshman outside hitter Tali Hakas, who played club volleyball growing up in her home country of Israel, said there were more people in the arena for a practice than watched her overseas.

As she glanced around the arena at the empty seats in the upper levels after practice, she imagined what it will feel like come Friday for the season opener against Northwestern in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic.

“I can imagine it and I’m a person who is full of energy,” Hakas said. “When I see more energy around me it makes me even more excited to do well.”

Whether it’s in an empty Gym 1 or a sold-out arena, Ah Mow treats every volleyball practice or scrimmage like a real game.

Nine returnees all know what to expect once the season gets going. For Ah Mow, Saturday was about getting the new players, including true freshmen hitters Hakas and Stella Adeyemi, a chance to get acclimated to their new home.

“Especially for the new girls to at least get some jitters out,” Ah Mow said. “I’m like this is not even close to what it will be inside here the first night, but I think some people was nervous.”

Ah Mow had each player introduce themselves over a microphone to fans in attendance before starting practice. She welcomed the fans in attendance to cheer if they did well and and even boo if they made a mistake.

There weren’t any audible boo’s throughout practice but the team did receive cheers after long rallies and a couple of impressive diving digs by libero Tayli Ikenaga and defensive specialist Talia Edmonds.

“It was cool because we get to start off at the Stan and I think that is a wonderful feeling, especially for the new girls, and this was a taste of that,” said Edmonds, a second-year senior after transferring from Michigan State. “I would say this team has a different level of maturity. We have a lot of girls coming back and we have some new girls who are experienced in their own ways so I think one of our biggest assets coming into the year is knowing what to expect.”

Saturday’s scrimmage took place 11 days after the official start date for fall camp and the regular-season opener is only 17 days after the first official practice.

Entering her seventh year on the job, it’s a short time frame Ah Mow is used to, but it does present challenges.

“I think it’s more challenging for the girls coming in,” Ah Mow said. “We already have a small group that is here, but those guys only have two weeks to show you what they can do to make the starting six.”

Adeyemi and Hakas both showed their potential, but it’s a tough battle to get into the starting lineup with UH returning the reigning Big West Player of the Year (Amber Igiede), setter of the year (Kate Lang) and freshman of the year (Caylen Alexander), along with first-team outside hitter Riley Wagoner.

Igiede didn’t participate in scrimmage Saturday, giving fellow middles Kennedi Evans and Clemson transfer Jacyn Bamis a chance to shine.

One thing that is clear entering the season is Ah Mow has a lot of pieces to play with. As for Igiede not practicing, it’s nothing for anyone to worry about.

“We needed the other guys to get reps,” she said with a laugh.