The last in a row of national championship banners in the rafters of the Stan Sheriff Center says: "1987."

The street address on both his Manoa home and mailbox reads: "1987."

So, yes, now that you mention it, University of Hawai'i women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji is aware that it has been a long time since the Rainbow Wahine have added to their national title collection.

He isn't allowed to forget for very long that it is going on 20 seasons — a lifetime for his players — now since the last banner has been hoisted. But, who is counting? Everybody, it seems. "Well, I'm reminded of that almost daily by somebody," Shoji said.

Indeed, practice for another season — Shoji's 33rd at UH — began in Manoa yesterday, which meant walking into the Sheriff Center where unseen air currents have a way of making that 1987 banner move hauntingly and where each new season carries the question of: Could this be the year?

It is Shoji's fault, of course. Well, sort of. If the Rainbow Wahine hadn't been so successful with previous titles in 1979, '82 and '83, this might not be the issue that it has become. If not for all the final four appearances the bar might not be set so high. And the wondering if a return to glory could be right around the corner might not greet each training camp the way it does.

Such star gazing is the province of fans and media trying to project in early August what might happen four months down the road. It is an exercise in tea leaf reading, really. Last season's avalanche of injuries underline just how much those tea leaves can shift in a hurry. But that's the fun of August before reality can intrude.

Certainly, the end-of-the-NCAA-road goal is to win a national championship as even Shoji will fess up after some coachly hemming and hawing. He maintains, however, the daily focus is more narrow and has to be. The goals more grounded, not to mention immediate and incremental.

"I don't think at the start of practice you're thinking about a national championship," Shoji said. "You're just trying to get to the next day and see how you are and how you can get better. We've got to work hard and grind it out (in practice). It is nice to have goals and think that you can get there (to a national championship) but a lot of things have to happen."

Can this be the year all those things finally fall into place for the Rainbow Wahine?

Well, practice has just started and at UH it has become an annual tradition to dream those dreams.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.