Opportunities to play in home waters have been few this spring.
But the University of Hawaii water polo team will spend the most meaningful weekend of the Big West season in Manoa.
The fourth-ranked Rainbow Wahine played just four of their 20 matches at home in the regular season and will get their delayed turn to host the Big West Women’s Water Polo Championship this week at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
The seven-team tournament opens today with three first-round matches starting at 10 a.m.. As the regular-season champion and top seed, UH (15-5, 6-0 Big West) has a bye into the semifinal round and will face No. 4-seed UC Davis or No. 5-seed UC San Diego at 11 a.m. on Friday.
The championship match is set for 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.
UH outscored its conference opponents by an aggregate total of 84-34 in rolling to the regular-season title. The closest match of the season was an 11-8 win at fifth-ranked UC Irvine, the tournament’s second seed, on April 8.
But with all seven Big West teams ranked in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association top 25, 11th-year UH coach Maureen Cole said the Wahine are well aware that those results have little bearing on this week’s mission.
“I think we’ve been building all season and hopefully it all comes together where we’re playing our best on Friday and hopefully we get to Saturday,” Cole said.
“Every team is so good in the Big West and everyone has a clean slate this weekend. So prior wins don’t mean anything and I think (the Wahine) have a good understanding of that.”
Two years ago, UH was 11-2 and slated to host the tournament at the end of the 2020 season when the pandemic wiped out the remainder of the season. Last year’s tournament was held in San Diego with the Wahine capturing the title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The conference honored UH’s turn in the rotation this year and the Wahine will take a shot at claiming a third straight Big West tournament crown and a return trip to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the NCAA Championship, set for May 6-8.
UH opened the season with a 3-1 weekend in the two-day Michigan Invitational at Canham Natatorium back in late January. Since then, Cole said the heavily international Wahine roster has developed its “synergy” in its rise in the national poll.
“Just to get this group able to understand how to play together just takes time and it’s evolved the last nine months,” Cole said. “I think it’s at its best place right now and that’s what we were shooting for.
“The team has a pretty good understanding of what everyone does well and their role and how to get the most out of each person.”
UH center Elyse Lemay- Lavoie’s team-high 41 goals ranks eighth in the Big West, a testament to the balance of an offense featuring 11 players with double-digit totals.
The center rotation of Lemay-Lavoie and freshman Morgan McDowall forms the hub of the Wahine attack. McDowall, a 6-foot utility from New Zealand, joined the team in January and was moved to center due to an injury to senior Lalelei Mata’afa. She scored 16 goals over UH’s last four matches to raise her season total to 27.
“They’re able to stay fresh throughout the game because they play short spurts,” Cole said. “They’re just interchangeable and that’s really allowed everyone else to be a true perimeter player.”
Sophomores Lara Luka (36 goals) and Alba Bonamusa Boix (28) are followed by two freshmen in McDowall and Paula Prats Rodriguez (25).
Senior goalie Molly DiLalla anchors the UH defense with 71 saves and her save percentage of .558 leads the Big West.
Big West Women’s Water Polo Championship
At Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex
>> When: Today-Saturday
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Tickets: etickethawaii.com
Schedule
>> Today — UC Davis vs. UC San Diego, 10 a.m.; UC Irvine vs. Cal State Northridge, 11:45 a.m.; Long Beach State vs. UC Santa Barbara, 1:30 p.m.
>> Friday — Hawaii vs. UC Davis/UCSD winner, 11 a.m.; UC Irvine/CSUN winner vs. LBSU/UCSB winner, 1:30 p.m.
>> Saturday — Final, 5:45 p.m.
