The Hawaii water polo team lived up to its No. 2 national ranking with a 13-7 victory over UC Irvine at the Anteater Aquatic Complex in Irvine, Calif., on Friday.
UH (17-3, 5-0 Big West) remained unbeaten in conference play with a key matchup with No. 7 Long Beach State looming on Sunday.
Eighth-ranked Irvine (14-10, 2-2) had been one of UH’s biggest obstacles of late, with wins over the Rainbow Wahine in the last two Big West championship games. Those cost UH a chance to appear in the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023.
But the Wahine had all the answers Friday as Bernadette Doyle and Lot Stertefeld recorded hat tricks and freshman goalkeeper Daisy Logtens tallied 10 saves.
UH led by three goals going into the fourth quarter and blanked UCI in the final period while Lucia Gomez de la Puente and Stertefeld (twice) found the net three times to put the match away. Stertefeld had five assists, as well.
UH faces LBSU (19-6, 4-0) at Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center in Long Beach, Calif., at 9 a.m. Hawaii time Sunday with the winner in strong position to receive the No. 1 Big West tournament seed.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.