DAVIS, Calif. — After watching the celebration following the previous two Big West Women's Water Polo Championship finals, it was Hawaii's turn to take the plunge on Sunday.
The top-seeded and second-ranked Rainbow Wahine water polo team captured the program's fifth Big West Championship title with a 9-5 victory over No. 8 Long Beach State in the tournament's title match at the Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis, Calif.
Bernadette Doyle sparked UH on both ends of the pool with season highs of four goals and four steals and the Rainbow Wahine held the Beach to one goal in the second half to claim their first Big West Championship since 2021.
The Rainbow Wahine (22-3) will return to Northern California in two weeks having secured the Big West's automatic bid to the NCAA National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship set for May 10-12 at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif. The nine-team bracket will be revealed when the tournament selection show airs on Monday, April 29 at 2 p.m. Hawai'i Time on ncaa.com.
UH will make its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since winning the 2021 Big West title. The 'Bows then fell to UC Irvine in the next two conference finals, including an overtime loss in last year's championship match. This time, the Rainbow Wahine completed their title march by sweeping through the regular season and the three-day Big West Championship, going 10-0 against conference competition for the first time since joining the league in 2013.
"Really excited for this team and this program," UH coach
Maureen Cole said after joining the team in the celebratory jump into the pool. "They've put in a lot of effort and I'm just happy for them that they got to experience this moment."
"I'm proud of this group. It's been a journey thus far and I'm really excited that we get two more weeks together. I'm excited for the hard work that we've got ahead, but just the time together with this group because it's been a really special season."
Doyle scored UH's first three goals and had her sixth hat trick of the season 6:08 into the game. The junior finished the week with a tournament-high nine goals and eight steals and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Senior
Alba Bonamusa Boix scored two goals and punctuated the win with 2:51 left with a goal off a rebound to all but seal the championship for the Rainbow Wahine.
Freshman
Daisy Logtens came up with eight saves — including a stop on a penalty shot early in the game — and the UH defense swiped 13 steals and had five field blocks.
Lucia Gomez de la Puente came up with three steals and
Lot Stertefeld contributed two steals and two blocks.
UH center
Bia Mantellato Dias was held without a goal for only the second time this season, but drew five exclusions and the 'Bows converted on five of 11 power-play opportunities while limiting Long Beach State to a 2-for-7 showing.
Former UH player Lara Luka led No. 3-seed Long Beach State (22-9) with three goals, all coming in the first half.
"Early on we made a few defensive mistakes on our own, so we cleaned that up a little bit," Cole said. "We put the ball away when we could. We missed some opportunities that could have broken it up a little bit more in the third quarter, but our defense was solid all game long especially after those first couple breakdowns early in the first quarter."
UH faced its first deficit since March 16 when Long Beach State took a 3-2 lead in the first quarter. Doyle answered on a power play and UH regained the lead when
Alia Burlock tipped in a rebound for her second goal of the season to push UH ahead 4-3 heading into the second quarter.
The 'Bows extended the lead to 7-4 on goals by Bonamusa Boix, Doyle and
Jordan Wedderburn in the second period and Wedderburn scored the lone goal in a third quarter dominated by defense. Long Beach State closed to 8-5, but Bonamusa Boix lofted a pass to Mantellato Dias who had her shot tipped away. Bonamusa Boix then snagged the loose ball and hammered in the final goal with 2:51 left to play.
UH ran down the clock and Logtens came up with one final save at the buzzer to start the UH celebration in the pool.
"We're ready to go, we're going to go back home and work really hard," Doyle said, "We've been working for months, just like the other teams, but we want this really bad and we're excited."
#HawaiiWWP
