The Hawaii water polo team enjoyed knocking off a top-ranked opponent so much, it decided to repeat the feat.

A day after UH dropped an overtime match to No. 3 UCLA for its first loss of the season, the No. 4 Rainbow Wahine closed out the Triton Invitational with a 10-6 victory over No. 1 USC at UC San Diego’s Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla, Calif., on Sunday.

"I think it’s exciting for the potential for this group and what we can accomplish this season and it motivates us to see where we’re at,” coach Maureen Cole said via UH Athletics. “There’s so many places where we can still get a lot better, so to have this win early is great motivation to move forward toward our ultimate goal for our season."

It snapped a 27-match losing streak to the Trojans; the Rainbow Wahine last beat the national power on April 29, 2006.

Freshman goalkeeper Daisy Logtens recorded the third-most saves in program history, 15, as she helped UH (8-1) build an early lead on USC (4-2). The Trojans were coming off an 8-7 loss to No. 5 Fresno State.

"She was stellar,” Cole said. “There were a few letdowns throughout the game and she bailed us out on a number of occasions and she was awesome."

Sophomore center Bia Mantellato Dias put in three goals for her fifth hat trick of the season, while Alba Bonamusa Boix and Jordan Wedderburn scored twice. Morgan Rios scored less than a minute coming out of halftime for a 7-2 lead.

UH upset then-No. 1 Stanford on the first day of the season Jan. 20. Stanford, UCLA and USC have combined for all the NCAA championships in the sport, which dates to 2001.

The Wahine have proven they can hang with, or even beat, all three of those programs just a few weeks into the 2024 season.

"Super proud of them,” Cole said. “It was a crusher last night to lose in overtime (13-12) to UCLA and to come back with the energy that they had and to battle a great team and have the success they did, just super proud of them."

The Wahine will head home, then travel back to the mainland for the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, Calif., Feb. 23 to 25.

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