When University of Hawaii volleyball coach Dave Shoji says he appreciates the animated students who show up at Rainbow Wahine matches, he isn’t just mouthing empty platitudes from the coaches’ handbook.

And when the athletic department and Manoa chancellor’s office say they want to encourage student involvement at the school’s sports events, they aren’t reading from a tired script this week.

We know this because all three are putting some money where their words are this weekend. They are putting tickets in the hands of Manoa students.

This morning, the first 400 students who show up at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office at 9 a.m., student ID in hand, will get free tickets to the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament first-round match Friday night against Idaho State.

If UH wins, 400 more will be made available Saturday for that night’s showdown match, the school said.

That’s $2,000 worth of tickets, per night, no small gesture around cash-strapped UH these days. 

During the regular season UH students gain entrance to campus events and Aloha Stadium in consideration for the mandatory $50-a-semester student athletic fee they are obliged to fork over.

They help fire up crowds and give some of the venues a college atmosphere. 

But come the bright lights and drama of the postseason, the NCAA strictly prohibits admissions that don’t add to its coffers at headquarters in Indianapolis.

It is unfortunate when you have a 10,300-seat arena sitting there, but then, as in so many things, that is the NCAA way. It pays its executives handsome salaries while giving you chapter and verse on the fine work it does on behalf of the student-athlete. Meanwhile, it shows little consideration for the student-fan. Even the ones whose fees help underwrite so many member programs.

So, two years ago, the last time UH hosted an NCAA postseason volleyball event on campus, Shoji led a plan to put 100 tickets into the hands of the student-fans, doing it with non-state-funded, booster-raised account monies. The move was so well received, Shoji and athletic director Ben Jay combined forces and booster bucks to hike the count to 300 this time.

“Two years ago the tickets went fast and I’m hoping there’s a big demand this time, too,” Shoji said.

Now, Manoa chancellor Tom Apple has jumped on board from what he said are non-state “foundation sources” to help make entrance possible for 400.

There is more than altruism at work here, of course. “We want the students there,” Shoji said. “They make a lot of noise, they dance, they have fun … and they yell at the other team, a lot.”

In short, they help provide the much sought-after home-court advantage at this most crucial time of the year, the one-and-done playoffs.

That’s something worthy of UH giving it the old college try to find a way to get them in the door.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.