Hawaii water polo team draws Cal in NCAA Tournament

HONOLULU — One year ago, the Hawaii water polo team’s run to the national semifinals ended in frustrating fashion at the hands of California.

The Rainbow Wahine earned the opportunity to get back to that point and pick up some payback in the process.

UH, just a few hours after arriving back in the islands from their successful trip to Irvine, Calif., for the Big West tournament title and automatic NCAA Tournament berth, took in the national selection show from the Manoa Lower Campus and learned their placement in the nine-team Indianapolis, Ind., bracket.

First-year head coach James Robinson and his mix of veterans and precocious youngsters were seeded fourth, which drew some polite applause. Then they learned they were matched up with Cal, and some murmuring ensued.

“This is where we wanted to be,” Robinson said of his team’s seeding. “It’s awesome that we’re here now. It’s not where we want to finish, right?”

UH was the second seed in Maureen Cole’s final season when it lost 9-6 to Cal in the program’s first NCAA semifinal appearance since 2013, in which the Wahine converted only two of 17 power play opportunities.

“I don’t think that’s a game that we will forget,” said sophomore goalkeeper Daisy Logtens, who was just named Big West tournament Most Valuable Player for recording 14 saves in the final against Long Beach State. “But yeah, it’s nice to play them again. Try and get revenge, obviously.”

The Wahine got a smaller measure of payback by edging Cal 12-11 in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, Calif., on Feb. 22.

UH (21-4) also had a marquee win over UCLA on its resume from the same early-season event.

The Golden Bears (19-5) have proven they compile goals in bunches, failing to reach double digits on the scoreboard only three times in 24 matches. They lost to top-ranked UCLA by only a goal in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinals and then beat No. 2 USC by a goal in the conference third-place game.

UH has succeeded by leaning into its defense and counterattacking ability. It held opponents to fewer than 10 goals 16 times.

Stanford was the No. 1 seed, UCLA the 2 and USC the 3. Those three schools have combined for all the NCAA women’s water polo championships.

Should UH get past Cal at IUPUI’s IU Natatorium, it is almost certainly looking at a semifinal matchup with Stanford (22-1). The Cardinal will play the winner of a May 7 play-in game between Wagner (21-8) and McKendree (21-7).

“It takes trusting in the process of what we’ve done this whole the whole fall, the whole semester, the whole season,” said senior Jordan Wedderburn, “and just trusting in James, trusting in each other, and trusting in everything that we’ve done and everything that we’ve built together. Just having faith that in the end, everyone’s going to give it their all.”

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.