Wahine water polo team heading to NCAA tourney

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Seven Hawaii players scored first-half goals and goalkeeper Daisy Logtens had 14 saves en route to earning tournament Most Valuable Player honors as the Rainbow Wahine defeated Long Beach State 8-6 in Irvine, Calif., on Sunday to win the Big West Championship and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA championship tournament.

The Rainbow Wahine (21-4) claimed their second consecutive conference title and will play in the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship scheduled for May 9-11 in Indianapolis. The nine-team bracket will be announced today at 2 p.m. on ncaa.com.

The No. 1-seeded Wahine jumped to an early lead and shut out the Beach over a span of 18 minutes, 24 seconds to take a 7-2 lead into the fourth quarter. While LBSU closed the gap, the Wahine held on and celebrated their first back-to-back tournament titles in program history and their sixth BWC title overall.

Vernoux converted a penalty shot with 1:07 left to help UH fend off LBSU’s comeback attempt in the Wahine’s 20th consecutive win in Big West regular-season and championship play.

Freshman Ema Vernoux scored two goals for the Wahine, while Stevilyn Griffin, Roni Perlman, Silvanne Slot, Alia Burlock, Jordan Wedderburn and Camille Radosavljevic added one goal each.

The Wahine took a 4-2 first-quarter lead and stormed ahead 7-2 at halftime. Neither team scored in the third quarter.

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Perlman got UH on the board first on a breakaway. After the Beach tied it, Burlock scored off a feed from Bernadette Doyle. Wedderburn drew a penalty and Vernoux converted to give UH a 3-1 lead. Vernoux then found Griffin open in the middle for another goal midway through the first quarter. LBSU got a goal back and UH led 4-2 after the first.

Radosavljevic skipped in a goal to beat the shot clock 54 seconds into the second quarter.

Logtens came up with four saves early in the period and Wedderburn added to the lead with her first goal of the day and seventh of the tournament. Slot scored from the perimeter with 19 seconds left and Logtens came up with a save at the buzzer to send the Wahine into halftime with a five-goal lead.