Water Polo to Face Cal in NCAA Championship

HONOLULU — The Big West champion University of Hawai’i women’s water polo team will open the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship by facing California on May 9 in Indianapolis in a rematch of their NCAA tournament meeting a year ago. 
 
The nine-team bracket was revealed during the NCAA selection show on Monday, a day after the Rainbow Wahine captured their second consecutive Big West Championship title in Irvine, Calif., to claim the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA field. The Rainbow Wahine (21-4) were awarded the fourth seed in the bracket and will take on the Golden Bears (19-5) at the IU Natatorium in a first-round match at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (8 a.m. Hawai’i Time).
 

 
The NCAA tournament matches will be streamed on ncaa.com until the national championship match, which will be televised on ESPNU on May 11.
 
The Rainbow Wahine will make the program’s ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and earned back-to-back berths for the first time since 2005 and ’06. UH defeated Princeton in the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA tournament held at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Center in Berkeley, Calif. The ‘Bows then ended the season with a 9-6 loss to the Bears in the semifinals.
 
Cal was awarded one of three at-large berths into the NCAA tournament bracket coming off a third-place finish in last weekend’s MPSF Championship in Los Angeles.
 
The Rainbow Wahine faced Cal earlier this season in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, Calif., and pulled out a 12-11 win over the Bears on Feb. 22. UH and Cal are 3-3 in six meetings over the last three seasons.
 
The tournament opens on May 7 with a matchup between Wagner and McKendree with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Stanford. UH or Cal would face the winner of that match in the semifinals. 
 
UH swept the Big West regular-season and championship titles for the second straight year and has won 20 consecutive conference matches. 
 
James Robinson will make his NCAA tournament debut as head coach of the Rainbow Wahine after three seasons and one tournament appearance as an assistant coach to Maureen Cole.

National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship

At IU Natatorium; Indianapolis

Hawai’i Times listed

• Opening round game | May 7
  
  • Wagner vs. McKendree, 12 p.m.

• First round | May 9
  • No. 1 Stanford vs. Wagner/McKendree, 6 a.m.
  • No. 4 Hawai’i vs. California, 8 a.m.
  • No. 2 UCLA vs. LMU, 10 a.m.
  • No. 3 USC vs. Harvard, 12 p.m.

• Semifinals | May 10
  
• National championship | May 11
  

May 9-10 matches will be streamed on ncaa.com
 

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