Ashley Watanabe flashed her unbreakable spirit yesterday as the seventh-ranked University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team prepared for the NCAA Tournament this week.

"This is a second chance to go out and make the best of it again," said Watanabe, a senior libero, who missed the entire NCAA Tournament last season with a broken right hand. "I'm not going to hold back and wonder about the what ifs."

Watanabe gives the Rainbow Wahine a fearless leader and defensive whiz as they head into the opening round of the NCAA Tournament this week in Austin, Texas. Hawai'i (25-6) plays unranked Texas State (17-14) on Friday.

Without Watanabe last year, Hawai'i juggled its lineup, and lost depth with some changes. Hawai'i lost in five games to Wisconsin at the NCAA Regional in Green Bay, Wis., and finished 30-1 last season.

"We just weren't as good as we could be last year without her," Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji said of Watanabe. "I'm hoping we'll have everybody available. You need all your weapons to be ready to go. Last year, we didn't. We still could have won, but it would be nice to have everybody."

This season, Watanabe's teammates are mindful of protecting their All-Western Athletic Conference first-team libero. Wata-nabe broke her right hand before last season's NCAA Tournament when she dived and jammed it into the back of Victoria Prince's size-9 shoe.

"This year, if I see her coming in, I'm going to jump out of the way," said Prince about Wata-nabe's floor-cleaning dives. "I'm getting far out of the way."

Prince — the reigning WAC Volleyball Player of the Week — called Watanabe a key piece to Hawai'i's championship puzzle.

"Not only is she an amazing digger, I have confidence she's going to try as hard as she can to get her hand on every ball," Prince said. "These teams that we play are so good offensively, having the defense that 'Wata' gives our team is really going to make the difference between us winning and losing."

Watanabe said she played timidly briefly after the injury, but has returned to her self-described "reckless" style. She leads the team with 4.12 digs per game.

"I want to say I broke out of it," said Watanabe, a walk-on from 'Aiea High School. "I was a little hesitant for certain plays, but now it doesn't matter.

"I don't want that ball to touch the ground," said Watanabe, who enters the NCAA Tournament four digs short of the school's single-season record of 437 set by Olympian Teee Williams in 1988. "It almost hurts every time the ball drops in front of me. With every play, I'm just trying to hold that thought, and not let the ball fall."

This season, Hawai'i remains fairly healthy for the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Prince played through flu-like symptoms and strep throat, and Watanabe sat out with her hand injury.

"I think volleyball-wise, we're OK," Shoji said. "Everybody is a little dinged up right now, but we're pretty good overall."

Middle blocker Nickie Thomas was held out of practice yesterday because of illness, Shoji said. Outside hitter Sarah Mason, who is recovering from a right ankle sprain, practiced yesterday with a brace.

"We've been doing a lot of rehab on it, just to prepare me for the tournament," said Mason, who leads the team with 3.84 kills per game. "I think I'm ready to go."

The Rainbow Wahine will leave tonight for Austin, Texas. Shoji said he hasn't decided if his team will stay on the Mainland or return home if they advance out of the NCAA Tournament's second round.

"Right now, we're not even thinking about next week," Shoji said. "We need to win two (matches), and that's our focus right now."

Five of Hawai'i's six losses this year have been to top 5 teams: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State twice, and No. 2 Washington twice.

"I think there's a lot of people who don't believe in us, who doubt us," Shoji said. "It's our job to make those people believers. It's kind of our motivation."

PRINCE NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Hawai'i's Victoria Prince was named the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week, the conference office announced yesterday.

Prince, a native of Kennewick, Wash., helped the Rainbow Wahine to the conference tournament title hitting .436 for the tournament. Her 78 kills led the tournament.

It is the second time this season Prince, a senior middle blocker, has been the conference player of the week.

Meanwhile, UH moved into a seventh-place tie with Texas in yesterday's College Sports Television/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

The Rainbow Wahine (25-6) had been eighth last week while the Longhorns (23-4), who upset No. 1 Nebraska, moved up from 11th place.

UH and Texas could meet Saturday if they each win their opening-round NCAA Tournament matches Friday in Austin. Texas plays LSU in the first round.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.