Another Western Athletic Conference women's volleyball title for the University of Hawai'i, another unfavorable travel itinerary to the NCAA Final Four.

What else is new?

"We expected the worst for us — like going away and not staying home," said setter Kanoe Kamana'o, referring to the announced draw in which the seventh-seeded Rainbow Wahine will open against Texas State on Friday in the NCAA Tournament's opening round in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas is hosting the first two rounds of this four-team sub-regional, with the winner advancing to the regional at Penn State.

"I wouldn't have been surprised if they had sent us over to New York or something," middle blocker Victoria Prince said yesterday after returning to Honolulu from the WAC tournament in Reno, Nev. "They're going to send us to the farthest regional possible, which is Penn State, but that's OK. We're prepared for that."

Coach Dave Shoji said the Rainbow Wahine's travel options are to leave tonight, tomorrow morning or tomorrow night. At the most, the Rainbow Wahine will spend two nights in Honolulu.

"It's a hard turnaround no matter what," Shoji said.

Asked why the team didn't remain on the Mainland after the WAC tournament, Shoji said: "I actually thought about it. But it was a little too late to change our travel plans. I'll learn one of these days to do it right."

Saturday, the Rainbow Wahine defeated Utah State to win their eighth consecutive WAC championship, improve to 25-6, and earn the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Although UH filed a bid to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, Shoji was not hopeful.

"I think (NCAA selection committee members are) concerned about having three teams travel, as opposed to us traveling to the Mainland," Shoji said. "I don't think it's financial at all. It's logistical, and to have the subregional here, they would have to travel three teams. To try to get three (teams) here is probably more difficult than putting us on the Mainland.

"Almost all of the pairings have two, if not three, if not four teams that are fairly close in proximity."

He also said the chances are slim UH will host sub-regional tournaments in the future.

"It's not looking good we can get a first or second round here," he said. "We'll have to bid on a regional, and I think we will in the future, but I think that's the only way we'll get (to host). Those are pre-determined."

The Rainbow Wahine traveled from Reno to San Francisco yesterday. They watched the selection show in an airport restaurant.

"It came on at 11:30 (a.m. Pacific time), and our flight didn't leave until 12:20," Prince said. "We went to a restaurant at the airport that has ESPN News. They turned the channel for us. (The football fans) were watching on the other TV. Everybody was looking around like, 'What's going on?' because we were really excited and stuff."

Soon after it was announced UH would open in Texas, Shoji said from San Francisco: "I don't think it's the most ideal place to go. It's a long, long travel time for us, and we're headed in the wrong direction right now. If we win (against Texas State), we get to play the team that just beat the No. 1 team in the country."

Texas (23-4), which plays LSU (21-7) in the other first-round match in Austin, upset top-seeded Nebraska on Saturday. Texas is unbeaten in 10 home matches this season, and has won 26 of its last 27 home matches dating to the 2003 season.

"We didn't catch a break on pairings and we didn't catch a break on the site," Shoji said. "It's almost like last year (UH was seeded third), when we had to go to Colorado State. The same thing. (Colorado State was) unseeded. I mean, Texas is probably the best unseeded team in the tournament."

WAC members Nevada and Utah State received at-large berths. Even though Utah State's opening-round match is in Salt Lake City, 90 miles from its Logan campus, Shoji said, "I don't think the WAC got any breaks."

Nevada is in Stanford's regional, Utah State is in Arizona's.

Shoji said he would have preferred for UH to play in a West regional "and maybe have Utah State go to Texas. They're a lot closer. But at this point, you've got to prepare for what they give you."

Prince said the sub-regional is "really going to test our team. But if we come out with that win, it's going to be really great for us. It's going to give us so much more confidence going into that regional."

For now, the Rainbow Wahine are focusing on Texas State (17-14), the Southland Conference champion.

"We'll just bring our game and do our best," libero Ashley Watanabe said of opening on the road. "We know how to deal with it (from) last year and many other years we were sent away. I think our team knows how to adjust."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.