It is what it is. And what it is could be described as disheartening.

Hawaii opened at 100 in Monday’s NCAA women’s volleyball Ratings Percentage Index, the first RPI of the season. It is the lowest rank for the Rainbow Wahine in program history, the previous low being 51 in the middle of 2017.

“I can’t do anything about the RPI,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said before Monday’s practice. “The only thing I can do is coach our girls and see what happens at the end.

“Win the conference and RPI doesn’t matter.”

Hawaii can take a huge step toward making that happen this week with road matches at UC Santa Barbara on Friday and No. 13 Cal Poly on Saturday. Both the Mustangs (16-1) and Gauchos (11-6) have higher RPIs — Cal Poly at 16 and UCSB at 87.

Only five of the Wahine’s other past and future opponents have a better RPI than 100: Oregon (32), UC Irvine (39), Kansas State (53), Portland (56) and Pepperdine (65). The remaining eight are between 106 (UC Davis) and 288 (Cal State Fullerton).

Last season, Hawaii opened with an RPI of 47, was at 39 prior to the NCAA tournament selection and finished at 40. The Wahine, the Big West runners-up, were considered “on the bubble” for an at-large bid but were chosen for the 64-team field.

This season, even if Hawaii were to finish second, it already seems a long shot. The Wahine have only missed the postseason once in program history, that in 1992 when it was a 32-team field and the Wahine were 15-12.

“We’ve got to win the conference then,” Hawaii senior hitter McKenna Granato said. “Our RPI was better last season and we still weren’t sure (the team would get in).”

Hurricane Lane wiped out what would have been some help for Hawaii. Not making the season-opening trip to Hawaii in August was UCLA (7-4), the Pac-12 Bruins with a 23 RPI. But that boost might have been negated by the West Coast Conference’s Gonzaga, the Bulldogs (4-11) at 167 on Monday.

The RPI is a computer-generated formula for strength of schedule that is used by the NCAA committee for postseason selection. It is comprised of a team’s winning percentage (25 percent), its opponents’ winning percentage (50 percent) and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents (25 percent). The latter two figures make up the strength of schedule.

Stanford (12-1), No. 2 in the latest AVCA Coaches Top 25, was at 1 in the RPI. Top-ranked BYU (15-0) was at 2.

One of the biggest complaints about the RPI has been the record of one’s opponents’ opponents being factored in. Coaches have contended that since they have no control over how other teams schedule that they should not be penalized.

It has been addressed in regard to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection. Beginning this spring, men’s basketball will no longer use the RPI but instead the NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will rely on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses.