Little will look familiar in the middle for this season's Rainbow Wahine volleyball team with the exception of Amber Kaufman — who was playing a different position a year ago.

Kaufman has distanced herself from the crowd, with a little help from her second sport. Nickie Thomas, maybe the most hard-luck player in team history, transfer Catherine Fowler and precocious underclassmen Amanda Simmons and Brittany Hewitt are trying to catch up. How quickly that happens will have a major impact on the Rainbow season, which starts next Friday against defending NCAA champion Penn State.

The Nittany Lions were a near-unanimous No. 1 pick in this week's preseason poll, with Hawai'i 12th. They provide a great, if intimidating, early gauge. PSU returns every starter, including All-America middle Christa Harmotto and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Arielle Wilson, also in the middle. The team led the nation in hitting percentage and was second in blocks last year, with Harmotto and Wilson among the top six in both individually.

The Rainbow Wahine return Kaufman, a spark offensively last year but still easing into the middle. Coaches believe she has matured and is growing into the athleticism that allowed her to play on the right as a freshman, in the middle last year and leap into the U.S. Olympic Trials in high jump a few months ago.

"I think the high jump stuff matured her quicker than we could have hoped," UH associate coach Mike Sealy said. "She was on a big stage and it wasn't up to her teammates. There was no one else to look at, just her. I think it kind of empowered her, as in, 'If you want a result, go get it.' I think she grew up for sure."

Kaufman's upside is as high as her jump. UH head coach Dave Shoji calls her the team's "most explosive and physically strongest" player. She was inserted in the middle last season, despite the presence of two senior starters, because Hawai'i craved a quicker attack and Kaufman moves at warp speed. At 6 feet, she is undersized and rarely stuff blocks, but is quick and jumps high enough to touch most everything when she goes over the net and not just up.

To challenge Harmotto and Wilson, she will have to consistently hit at the top of her jump and aim deep, instead of trying to bury balls inside the 10-foot line. She will also have to ease up so she doesn't take herself out of the game.

Shoji sees it happening. "She has really matured as a person," he said. "And physically she is capable of doing some pretty amazing things."

Kaufman's volatile personality is in direct opposition to the easy-going Fowler, Simmons and Hewitt. Coaches want them to develop a "mean streak," at least on the court.

Fowler masks her calm personality with aggression and the confidence and experience two years at University of Arkansas developed. She needs to get to the ball faster offensively, but she is quick and has come a long way since she arrived in January.

"Fowler is a whole new player," Sealy said. "When she came here she looked like a long-distance runner. Her body type is so thin, but she hit the weight room, made technical adjustments in her swing and hits five times harder than she used to. She's always been good blocking laterally and she's probably our best pure blocker of all the middles."

He might not have said that two years ago, before Thomas suffered the first of two knee injuries that ended her last two seasons. Sealy called her "the best player in the gym" in 2006, and she worked to get back last year before suffering another injury before the first match. Thomas' jump is still good and she has the best blocking hands and instincts of any middle.

Now she just has to be patient — again — to let her body catch up to her tenacity. Thomas stayed all summer to focus on rehabilitation and Shoji believes she is at "80 to 85 percent" now. Thomas puts it closer to 90.

"She's getting the job done just because of her experience and being smart," Shoji said. "She is able to make up for a lack of footspeed now by just being smart. But I think that as the season progresses she will get more of her quickness back. She is going to be better in two months and much better in four months if she continues to hang in there and pushes herself.

"She has been penciled in the last two years as a starter. Had she remained healthy we would have seen an amazing player."

Simmons also stayed all summer in an effort to overcome the "daintiness" Sealy saw last season. She is more serious, has "improved dramatically" and could become the "complete player" Hawai'i needs, with her strength and jumping ability. The question is, how soon can she find consistency?

"She has all the qualities you need except she doesn't have experience and hasn't been under fire," Shoji said. "The other thing with her is ... we talk all the time and tell her she's got to be tougher. She is really easy-going. ... She's just too nice right now. When she hits somebody in practice she says I'm sorry. You can't do that all the time."

Hewitt also has a tendency to be "too nice" and could red-shirt as a freshman. The only hesitation is she came to Manoa with more skill than coaches remembered during recruiting. She is 6-3, with long limbs, a good jump and has shown she is comfortable "growing into the frame."

"If you had to describe someone you'd want to recruit you would describe Brittany Hewitt," Shoji said. "The size, the vertical, the foot speed. Her arm needs to be quicker but that is something that comes with strength. We're extremely happy with her physical stature and play so far. I'm pleasantly surprised. We had recruited and signed her during her high school season and by the time club season rolled around she was a way better player than the one we recruited.

"The whole package has to be better — strength, footspeed, arm strength. She is just a puppy, but she will be a pretty good puppy four years down the road."