SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The University of Hawai'i women's water polo team gets ready for the the Big West Championship to be held April 28-30 on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. The Rainbow Wahine are seeded second in the eight-team bracket and will open the tournament versus No. 7 seed CSUN in quarterfinal action on Friday, April 28 at 10:00 am HT.
 

MATCH #29
What				2023 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship
Who				No. 2-seed Hawai'i (19-6) vs. No. 7-seed CSUN (17-12)
Date | Time				Friday, April 28, 1:00 p.m. PT (10:00 a.m. HT)
Location				Santa Barbara, Calif. — UCSB Campus Pool
Live Stream				ESPN+
Live Stats				TheFosh.net
Game Notes				Hawai'i | Championship Central
Social Media				@WahineWP  | #HawaiiWWP #SISTAHHOOD | @wahinewaterpolo  | Facebook

UH In the Big West Championship: The Rainbow Wahine are 17-5 in the Big West Tournament since joining the league in 2013...UH has won the tournament four previous times (2013, '15, '19, '21)... the Rainbow Wahine have advanced to the finals seven out of nine times, including in each of the last four tournaments...top-seeded Hawai'i fell to No. 2 UC Irvine, 11-8,  in last year's championship match in Honolulu...the 'Bows and Anteaters have clashed in the finals in each of the last four years, splitting those matches.

What's at Stake: The winner of the single-elimination tournament will receive an automatic bid from the league into the NCAA Championships, May 12-14, in Stockton, Calif...with a potential win on Friday, the Rainbow Wahine will advance into the semifinals on Saturday, April 29 at 10:00 am HT...the championship match will be held on Sunday, April 30 at 9:00 am HT.

Big West Review: The Rainbow Wahine finished in second place in the regular-season standings with a 6-1 mark...it marked the first time since 2017 that UH did not win at least a share of the regular-season title....Hawai'i has finished in the top two of the standings in all but two seasons (2013, '14) in the Big West...UH's lone regular-season loss this year came at the hands of UC Irvine, 11-10, on April 15 in Honolulu. 

'Bows Versus the Matadors: UH is 19-4 all-time against CSUN...the 'Bows have won eight straight in the series, including a 12-3 win in Northridge on March 12... the teams meet in the Big West Tournament for the first time in eight years and for just the third-time ever... CSUN edged Hawai'i, 6-5, in the 2014 semifinals...host Hawai'i returned the favor in the 2015 semifinals with a 6-5 win of their own in Honolulu.  

'Bow Bits: Freshman center Bia Mantellato Dias leads the team and is second in the Big West with 73 goals....the native of Brazil has been awarded Big West Player of the Week three times this season....she scored seven goals in a win over UC San Diego on March 30...the seven goals were the most by a Rainbow Wahine player in 10 years and tied for the third most ever by a Rainbow Wahine... senior Emma Van Rossum is among 20 players placed on the watch list for the Cutino Award, given to the nation's most outstanding player...the native of the Netherlands is widely considered one of the best defenders in the country...goalkeeper Bridget Layburn has been a stalwart for UH in protecting the net, tallying a total of 157 saves thus far....she also scored a length of the pool goal at buzzer to lift UH to a dramatic 9-8 double-overtime win over fourth-ranked Cal on March 25.