HONOLULU — Once was enough.

That’s all the time that Hawaii water polo coach James Robinson dispensed to last year’s NCAA Tournament semifinal loss to California, in which the Rainbow Wahine scored only twice on 17 on power-play opportunities in a 9-6 outcome.

That hard-to-believe statistic, if it came up this week, won’t be mentioned again before the teams rematch in the NCAA quarterfinals in Indianapolis, Ind.

“We spoke about our last meeting with Cal last year, one time,” Robinson, the Big West Coach of the Year in his first season leading the program, said Monday moments before the team embarked from the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex for the airport. “It was really just where we fell short. Haven’t touched a whole lot on when we played them earlier this year. … It’s (about) being present right here, right now.”

Big West champion UH (21-4), the fourth seed in the nine-team field, faces MPSF semifinalist Cal (19-5) at 8 a.m. Hawaii time in a game to be livestreamed on NCAA.com. The Wahine were to fly out Monday for Chicago and catch a short connecting flight to Indianapolis.

BWC Player of the Year Bernadette Doyle has traveled long distances to get from her homeland of New Zealand to compete at UH and around the world for her nation, but this will be the senior’s longest career road trip from the islands to the mainland.

Robinson was confident his group would settle in quickly at IUPUI’s IU Natatorium, the largest indoor aquatic facility in the U.S. with a capacity of 4,700.

UH, which is coming off its first back-to-back conference tournament championships, is wary of Cal’s up-tempo attack in the Manoa program’s ninth all-time NCAA appearance. The Wahine edged the Golden Bears, 12-11, in a meeting in Irvine, Calif., in March.

For nonconference foes, the two programs are about as familiar as you can get, having gone 3-3 against each other over the last six seasons.

Robinson was around at UH as an assistant to Maureen Cole for the last two before taking over as her chosen successor this season.

“They have a lot of talent. They’re deep,” Robinson said of Cal, coached by former UH assistant Coralie Simmons. “I think they play the game at a very fast pace, so that’s difficult to keep up with over the course of four quarters. What they do is very effective. They push transition. Put a lot of pressure on you, so it is nice that our team has some experience against them. It’s not going to be such a surprise, you hope, at this time of the year.”

UH plays a decidedly more deliberate style. Doyle said it will be about finding a balance between counterattacking and not falling into the Bears’ preferred pace.

“We really need to go out there wanting to attack,” Doyle said. “I think we saw even in the Long Beach (Big West championship) game, that when we stopped attacking, our defense started to get worse. So we need to make sure that, obviously, we need to go out there firing, but being also patient with our attack.”

Robinson emphasized that it will take everyone to advance in the tournament, including his reserves. But he allowed that the 5-foot-6 Doyle, with her capacity to affect the game on either end as a disruptive defensive player and lethal counterattacker, is at the top of the list.

Doyle has 53 goals, 38 assists, 51 steals and 13 field blocks on the season.

“For her to be able to play defense like she’s been playing all season is going to be a massive part,” Robinson said. “Pushing in transition, pushing pace. Obviously, that’s where she is really, really effective, so she’s gonna have to do that, but that’s gonna take her and the rest of the team as well.”

Doyle is accompanied by her younger sister Gabrielle, who was named to the BWC All-Freshman team.

“Just go out there and give it your all and be fearless,” Bernadette Doyle said of what she’d advise Gabrielle. “Take your moments and yeah, give it everything you’ve got.”

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

A haul of awards awaited the Hawaii men’s volleyball team when it arrived in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday afternoon.

The American Volleyball Coaches Association bestowed postseason honors on five Rainbow Warriors — hitter Adrien Roure and setter Tread Rosenthal made the first team, opposite Kristian Titriyski was named a second-teamer, and middle Kurt Nusterer and libero ‘Eleu Choy were named honorable mentions.

UH (26-5) flew commercial overnight Sunday to Phoenix and caught a connection to Columbus on Monday morning ahead of their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal against Penn State (15-15) at Ohio State’s Covelli Center on Thursday.

UH’s five total AVCA award recipients tied for second-most in program history. UH got six in 2023.

“Great to see the guys get recognized for their performance,” coach Charlie Wade said in a video from Columbus distributed by UH. “Super proud of guys like Kurt and ‘Eleu, (former) walk-ons that have literally become some of the best players in the country. Tread, Adrien and Kristian have been dominant since the day they stepped foot on the court. Nice to see some recognition.”

Rosenthal upgraded his showing from honorable mention as a true freshman last season. The Austin, Texas, native, was one of three setters on the first team along with Long Beach State’s Moni Nikolov and UCLA’s Andrew Rowan. He has guided the nation’s fifth-most efficient offense (.343) and is third in assists per set (10.65).

“It’s a big honor,” Rosenthal said in UH’s video. “Honestly, for me, it’s more exciting to see the other guys make it, because I think every other guy is a new guy to get to All-American status. It’s really good to just see a whole team effort of really good players.”

Roure, of Lyon, France, leads UH in double-digit-kill matches with 20 in 30 starts. The Big West tournament MVP was one of two freshmen on the first team.

“I was actually surprised,” Roure said. “I was hoping to make it to maybe second team, but first team, I feel really grateful. Especially because there’s only two freshmen on the 12-player (team). So, really blessed.”

Wade described Titriyski, who has been out for a month with an ankle injury, as “day to day” as the team left for the road from the Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday night, but noted the Bulgarian was a full practice participant on Friday.

Titriyski led UH in kills (4.24), points (5.50) and aces (0.45) per set before he got hurt.

Nusterer, of Indianapolis, Ind., expects to have considerable family and friend support in Columbus. He led UH in blocks per set at 1.02.

Choy, a Farrington High graduate of the Waialae area, leads UH with 1.68 digs per set and is the only player to have started all 31 matches.

LBSU’s Nikolov was named AVCA Newcomer of the Year. The AVCA’s remaining capital awards — player of the year, coach of the year, assistant coach of the year — will be announced in the coming days.

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

LONG BEACH – The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 are set to showcase Long Beach, the vibrant coastal city in south-eastern Los Angeles County with a rich sports and cultural history, that will host 11 events.

Beach volleyball, water polo, sailing and sport climbing are among the popular competitions that will take place in “the LBC” and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the city is ready for its moment in the global spotlight.

“Long Beach is a great American city, and many folks may not know about it,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to really come out of the shadows a bit. We’re a top-40 city in the United States by population. We’re larger than Miami. We’re larger than St. Louis and New Orleans.

“We have a great, iconic coastline… and the beautiful nine miles of California coast.”

Long Beach is likely familiar to music lovers around the world due to its frequent mention in the songs of hip-hop legend and Team USA hype man Snoop Dogg.

The city has also punched above its weight when it comes to producing sports stars.

Tennis icon Billie Jean King, three-time Olympic beach volleyball champion Misty May-Treanor and 2012 Olympic gold medalist and NBA star Russell Westbrook all hail from the city.

Long Beach’s Woodrow Wilson High School has had an alumni represented in every Summer Games the US has participated in since 1952. Long Beach State University, meanwhile, has consistently churned out Olympic volleyball, swimming and water polo standouts.

The 2028 Games will mark the third time Long Beach has played a part in an Olympics.

Marine Stadium was originally built to stage rowing events at the 1932 Games and will do so again nearly a century later with rowing and canoe sprint taking place at the first-ever manmade rowing course.

Sailing will be held off Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier in Belmont Shore as the city’s waterfront once again hosts the event after also doing so in 1984, the last time LA hosted the Games.

Hosting large-scale events is nothing new to the city, Richardson added.

The Long Beach Grand Prix, the city’s beloved “200-mile-per-hour beach party”, drew over 200,000 attendees for its 50th anniversary in April in the shadow of the Long Beach Convention Centre and Long Beach Arena, which will both be utilised in 2028.

The 60th edition of the popular Congressional Cup regatta was held off Veteran Memorial Pier last weekend in Long Beach’s signature sea breeze.

“These are iconic, historic, world-class venues, and we can’t wait to put them on display for the entire world,” Richardson said.

Olympic organisers LA28 have clustered venues together across the sprawling Los Angeles region and Richardson added that fans will have options when it comes to how they move between the six Olympic venues in Long Beach.

“You can Circuit,” he said, referring to the city’s free electric vehicle service.

“Or walk or scooter or bike across all the venues on our nine miles of coastline.

“And while they’re there, they’ll see the investments that we made into our beach, into our coastline, some of the best beach concessions in America where you can have a hot dog or you can have a tomahawk steak and a martini.

“That’s the experience that we’ve put together and developed here in Long Beach, and we can’t wait to show it to the world.” REUTERS

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