How good is this University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball team?

We will find out soon, as the NCAA tournament starts today. But the first-round match for the Rainbow Wahine against TCU probably won’t be much of a barometer. UH is 26-1 and ranked seventh in the nation. The Horned Frogs are 19-9 and 9-7 in the Big 12.

This is UH coach Dave Shoji’s tallest team in his 41 seasons as Wahine head coach. It is led by a superstar in Nikki Taylor — the Player of the Year in the Big West, in which Hawaii went undefeated. There is depth and experience. They’re unbeaten on the road.

Hawaii hasn’t lost since Sept. 6 against UCLA, a span of 21 matches that includes a win over then No. 2-ranked Florida.

The ceiling looks high … and as is often the case, their position in the brackets (unseeded) does not do justice to their ranking. If it were any other school, maybe they could sneak up on teams. But Hawaii’s reputation precedes it, regardless what the NCAA thinks of its schedule.

Again, how good are they?

Shoji said he doesn’t even know himself.

“I have mixed feelings. Obviously we have done very, very well. We won 26 matches. On one hand we’ve been able to survive each night out, and had some great come-from-behind wins, especially against Florida. That tells me that we’re a really good team,” Shoji said. “On the other hand, we’ve dropped sets to Eastern Washington, Bakersfield and Riverside. We do have a tendency to play poorly at times. I’m hoping the good team shows up.”

Those three schools combined to go 37-48 this season. Every opponent from here on will be much better.

The biggest question mark for this team has been the setter. But the shared-duty system Shoji installed during the season has worked, and now opponents have to prepare for both Tayler Higgins and Kendra Koelsch.

“It was definitely experimental at the start. I don’t like to play two setters. It’s not as consistent as having one person run the show,” Shoji said. “It was almost out of necessity, to get more of a defensive presence with (Koelsch’s) block. Tayler’s a good blocker, but she’s small and we were getting exploited there. So we went to specializing them, and it’s worked out great. … I’m not sure if other teams can pick up on it and actually prepare for it. There is a little difference, and sometimes that’s a good thing.”

The Wahine can’t look past TCU and the winner of the Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi match, which they would play in the second round.

But we can.

It has been six years since UH made it to the final four, when Penn State ousted the Wahine in the semifinals and then beat Texas for its third national championship in a row.

That year, Hawaii was 28-2 and ranked third at the end of the regular season. But UH was seeded 12th in the NCAAs.

If the Wahine do win two matches in Texas this weekend, there’s a very good chance they meet seventh-seeded Penn State in the third round.

That would give them a chance to prove the NCAA wrong. Again.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads