Top seed Wahine wary but ready
Apr. 25—1/1
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
UH's Alba Bonamusa Boix soared out of the water and scored on a penalty shot against UC Santa Barbara on April 13.
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The Hawaii women's water polo team started the season making headlines with an overtime win over defending national champion champion Stanford.
The Rainbow Wahine have continued the momentum of the program's first win over the Cardinal all the way through the conference season.
Hawaii, ranked No. 2 in the country, ran the table during the Big West regular season and enters the conference championship as the No. 1 seed beginning Friday in Davis, Calif.
UH (19-3) opens the tournament against No. 8 seed Cal State Fullerton at 7 a.m. Hawaii won all seven of its conference games by five goals and is the overwhelming favorite to claim a fifth BWC tournament title and first since 2021.
Recent history should keep this UH team from getting overconfident.
"We've gone undefeated and then lost in the finals before, so a lot of these girls have experience having gone through that," Hawaii coach Maureen Cole said. "A tournament is complete different than a regular season game, so every (match) will be do-or-die. There's high stakes and we understand that everyone will be out to play for an automatic bid."
Hawaii had a week off after winning its regular-season finale at home. Cole, who announced she would retire at the end of the season, gave the team a midweek day off, something she says she has never done.
One more win gives the program its 11th 20-win season overall and fifth under Cole, who was hired prior to the 2012 season.
Hawaii outscored its seven conference opponents 100-39 during the regular season. It's biggest blowout was a 20-4 victory against the same Titans team they will open the tournament against.
UH has allowed a Big West-low 156 goals this season, trimming more than a goal of its goals-per-game-allowed average to 7.1, down from 8.2 last season.
"I'm impressed with mainly defensively. We have held a lot of really good teams to eight, seven goals, which is our goal every single game," Cole said. "I think we've really locked in on that and again, just excited with where we have been, but I still think we haven't played our best game yet."
Freshman goalkeeper Daisy Logtens has helped with that, leading the conference with a .602 save percentage and 7.75 goals-against average.
Junior Bernadette Doyle leads the Big West with 1.9 steals per game and is second with 39 steals overall.
Alba Bonamusa Boix leads the team with 14 total blocks.
Hawaii's only three losses in Big West play in the last thee seasons have all come against UC Irvine.
The Anteaters beat Hawaii in the 2022 Big West Tournament final by the same score of 11-8 as Hawaii had defeated UC Irvine by in the regular season.
Last season, UCI defeated Hawaii twice in 15 days by a single goal, including a 10-9 heartbreaking loss in overtime in the BWC tournament finale, ending UH's season.
"I think we've talked about it and I think we've moved on from it, but it's definitely there still," said sophomore center Bia Mantellato Dias, who leads UH in scoring with 57 goals. "It's a different group this year. It's a different team. We have really special players together and yeah, I think that motivates us and makes us want it more."
All seven matches in the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+ with the championship match Sunday at 9 a.m.
Big West Water Polo Championship
At Schaal Aquatics Center, Davis, Calif. Stream: ESPN+
Friday
>> No. 1 Hawaii vs. No. 8 CSU Fullerton, 7 a.m.
>> No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 CSUN, 9 a.m.
>> No. 2 UC Irvine vs. No. 7 UC Davis, 11:30 a.m.
>> No. 3 Long Beach State vs. No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday
>> UH/CSF winner vs. UCSD/CSUN winner, 9 a.m.
>> UCI/UCD winner vs. LBSU/UCSB winner, 11 a.m.
Sunday
Championship, 9 a.m.
