Many of the faces in the room may be new, but Maureen Cole’s message to the University of Hawaii water polo team on the eve of the Big West tournament echoed those of previous years.

“I say this every year to every group, but whether you’re playing a preseason game, a conference game, a Big West game, an NCAA game, it’s all the same game with the same yellow ball,” the Rainbow Wahine coach said. “Nothing really changes. Your approach should all be the same.”

Powered by a high-scoring group of freshmen, No. 8 UH will look to repeat last year’s result when the Big West tournament opens today in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The defending tournament champion Rainbow Wahine (18-7, 3-2 Big West) face No. 10 UC Davis (17-11, 2-3) in a first-round match at 9 a.m. at UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Pool. The winner plays regular-season champion Long Beach State in the semifinals on Saturday. The title match is scheduled for 11 a.m Sunday.

After dropping their final two games of the regular season, the Wahine had two weeks to prepare for their shot at earning a second straight trip to the NCAA championship.

The Wahine outlasted UC Davis 10-9 in overtime on April 2 in Manoa, with center Nikki-Marie Bell ending the match with her fifth goal. Today’s rematch could again hinge on the matchup in front of the goal.

“Our focus is just trying to control their centers and try to force them to beat us from the outside, because they did a lot of damage against us last time inside,” Cole said.

Four of UH’s top five scorers are freshmen, led by Irene Gonzalez’s 65 goals. Gonzalez ranks second in the Big West in scoring and freshman Femke Aan is fifth with 50.

“At this time of year I don’t look at them as freshmen and I don’t think anybody on our team does,” Cole said.