IRVINE, Calif. — The University of Hawaii women's water polo team will look to claim back-to-back Big West Championship titles when the top-seeded Rainbow Wahine face Long Beach State on Sunday, April 27 at the Anteater Aquatics Complex in Irvine, Calif. The conference championship match is set for noon Pacific Time (9 a.m. Hawai'i Time) and will be streamed on ESPN+.

The defending Big West champion Rainbow Wahine defeated Cal State Fullerton 16-6 in the tournament opener on Friday and advanced to the title game with an 11-9 win over UC San Diego in the semifinals on Saturday. No. 2 seed Long Beach State routed CSUN in the quarterfinals and held off UC Irvine to set up a rematch of last year's Big West final. The winner will claim the Big West's automatic bid to the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship set for May 9-11 in Indianapolis. 

No. 4 HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (20-4, 7-0 Big West) vs. No. 6 LONG BEACH STATE BEACH  (17-10, 6-1 Big West)
Date | Time				Sunday, April 27 | 12:00 p.m. PT (9:00 a.m. HT)
Location				Irvine, Calif. — Anteater Aquatics Complex
Live Stream				ESPN+
Live Stats				theFOSH
Game Notes				Hawai'i
Tournament Central				BigWest.org

ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDHawai'i leads Long Beach State 38-7 (15-2 neutral)
Last Meeting: Hawai'i 9, Long Beach State 8, OT (March 15, 2025; Honolulu)

OPENING SPRINT

• UH is making its 10th appearance in the Big West Championship final and seventh in a row. The Rainbow Wahine are 5-4 in the conference title match. 
• UH is on a 19-game winning streak against Big West opponents (regular season and conference tournament) dating back to last season.
• The Rainbow Wahine are ranked No. 4 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association and the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches top 25 polls. Long Beach State is No. 6 in both polls.
• Freshman Ema Vernoux leads the team and ranks third in the league with 73 goals. She enters the Big West Championship final tied for the fifth highest single-season total in program history.
• Jordan Wedderburn posted hat tricks in UH's first two Big West Championship games this week and moved up to ninth on UH's career goals chart with 157. She has 64 goals this season, tied for the ninth highest single-season total in program history.
• Bernadette Doyle, last year's Big West Championship MVP, tied her career high with five goals and posted the program's highest steals total since 2002 with eight against UC San Diego on Saturday. On Friday, she became the second player in program history to reach triple digits in career goals, assists and steals, joining Paula Chillida Esforzado, who had 150 goals, 107 assists and 111 steals from 2013-15. 
• Sophomore goalie Daisy Logtens leads the Big West in goals-against average at 9.16 and ranks fourth in the conference with 179 saves (47.4 SV%).
• Bernadette Doyle leads the team and is second in the conference with 50 steals. She also leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big West with 13 field blocks.

THE MATCHUP
Long Beach State

• UH is 38-7 all-time against LBSU, including 8-1 in the Big West Championship. 
• UH has won the last 14 matchups with the Beach dating back to April 7, 2018. 
• LBSU last defeated UH (8-7) on April 29, 2017 in Davis, Calif.
• UH defeated LBSU 9-5 in last year's Big West Championship title game in Davis, Calif.
• UH won this season's regular-season meeting 9-8 in overtime on March 15 in Honolulu. Bernadette Doyle scored the golden goal to secure the victory.
• LBSU goalie Chelsea Oliver leads the conference with a 50.6 SV%. Attacker Martina Cardona leads the team and ranks fourth in the league with 68 goals.