Like the old woman in a shoe of nursery-rhyme fame, Hawaii has so many defensive specialists that it is hard to know what to do. The talent is spread across the depth chart.

Long the trademark of Rainbow Wahine teams, passing and defense have become even more of the focal points, with the team spending at least an hour of each practice on fundamentals. If Hawaii is to be successful this season, and able to use all of its offensive weapons, it will come down to passing.

Anchoring the backcourt again will be senior Savanah Kahakai, an all-conference libero who became the 14th Wahine to reach the 1,000-dig plateau last season. The Farrington High graduate is at 1,001 digs for her career, thanks in part to double-digit dig performances in 23 of Hawaii’s 29 matches, starting every night.

“Savanah is our libero,” coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “I told the other girls, if you guys want to beat her out, be my guest. That means we’re getting better.”

First off the bench as a defensive specialist/serving substitution likely will be senior Clare-Marie Anderson. The Punahou School graduate is one of the most consistent servers on the team, with just a combined seven errors the past two seasons.

Three others are chasing the two seniors for playing time, including senior Gianna Guinasso (Huntington Beach High in California), who wasn’t cleared to practice until the second week of fall camp.

Redshirt freshman Rika Okino (Kalani) and true freshman Janelle Gong (Campolindo High in California) are the heirs apparent to Kahakai since Emma Smith (66 sets, 78 digs) transferred to Cal during the summer.