Maureen Cole emphasized the little things leading up to the University of Hawaii water polo team’s biggest weekend of the season.

The Rainbow Wahine had nearly two weeks off before heading to Long Beach, Calif., for the Big West tournament and used the down time to sharpen their execution to prepare for their title defense.

"That’s all we’re talking about with our girls — don’t think about it being a championship; it’s about doing all the little things we’ve been working on all year," Cole said. "Nailing the pass, taking the extra breath before you put the ball away, getting your matchups, just sticking to the game plan. The team that does that the best is going to win."

The Rainbow Wahine (17-9, 3-2 BWC) enter the tournament as the third seed and face sixth-seeded UC Davis (12-17, 0-5) in the first round on Friday at Long Beach State’s Campus Pool. The winner advances to a semifinal matchup with second-seeded Cal State Northridge (22-8, 3-2) on Saturday.

UC Irvine (22-7, 5-0), the tournament’s top seed, will await the winner of Friday’s match between host Long Beach State (18-10, 2-3) and UC Santa Barbara (11-14, 2-3). The tournament title and the accompanying berth in the NCAA championship will be awarded on Sunday.

UH, ranked eighth in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association poll, won both meetings with UC Davis this season, with both wins decided by one goal. The Wahine edged the Aggies 5-4 on April 12 in their Big West regular-season finale and Cole expects defense to again define the tournament rematch.

"All championships seem to be low scoring," Cole said. "The referees tend to make the athletes decide it even more and the defensive intensity just steps up on everyone’s part.

"I think the team that wins is going to be very efficient defensively because goals are hard to come by."

The Wahine, who allowed just 11 goals in three games in capturing last year’s Big West title, take a four-game winning streak into this weekend’s tournament.

Their last loss was a 9-8 defeat at Cal State Northridge on April 4 in which the Matadors erased a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Cole said the Wahine came out with greater resolve the following day to beat UC Santa Barbara and spark their current win streak.

"Sometimes things are blessings even if they don’t feel like it at the time," Cole said. "It’s live-and-learn moments."

Sophomore Paula Chillida Esforzado leads a balanced UH offense with 49 goals, followed by senior Danielle Lewis’ 44. Senior goalie Amy Carlson is averaging 8.32 saves per match for a Wahine team with five freshmen playing significant minutes.

"We’re a totally different team (since last year’s tournament) and we’ve become a different team now as opposed to in January," Cole said. "We’ve changed a lot of things figuring out how to use everyone the best way we could and I think we’ve come up with a pretty good recipe at the end."

The tournament matches will be streamed online at bigwest.org/tv/.