Water polo loads up
Hawaii has been ranked in the CWPA national preseason poll every year since 2009 — and 2019 was no different.
Maureen Cole’s Rainbow Wahine, who checked in in a tie for sixth in the poll announced Wednesday, will have no shortage of opportunities to maintain or better their position through their 21-game schedule.
UH opens against No. 22 Marist at noon on Saturday at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex, then Sonoma State at 6 p.m. that night. It’s the second straight year the Rainbow Wahine open at home, but before that the last time they did so was in 2000.
#BigWestWWP in the poll:
T6⃣ – @UCIwwp
T6⃣ – @WahineWP
1⃣0⃣ – @UCDavisWPolo
1⃣1⃣ – @LBSUWaterPolo
1⃣7⃣ – @UCSBWWP
1⃣8⃣ – @CSUNPolo
…#StartBig 💪🤽♀️ https://t.co/5jYxByNMcy— Big West WWP (@BigWestWWP) January 16, 2019
The Wahine face six teams currently ranked in the top 10, including three at home — No. 1 USC (March 16); No. 4 Cal (March 29); and No. 5 Arizona State (Jan. 26). Per UH, of the 29 teams either ranked or receiving votes, UH will play 14 of them this season.
They are:
USC (1), UCLA (3), Cal (4), Arizona State (5), UC Irvine (T-6), UC Davis (10), Long Beach State (11), UC San Diego (15), Loyola Marymount (16), UC Santa Barbara (17), Cal State Northridge (18), San Diego State (19), Marist (22), Fresno State (RV).
Fortunately for UH, it has a few prominent returnees from the team that went 21-5 last season and finished ranked No. 7, running the table in the Big West regular season but losing to UC Irvine in triple overtime in the BWC tournament at Irvine. UH’s 11.46 goals-per-match average for the full season was the best in Big West history.
>> Senior attacker Irene Gonzalez was a first-team All-America selection by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches, the first Big West player to get that nod since UH’s Monika Eggens in 2013. The reigning Big West player of the year heads into her senior season with 166 career goals, already No. 7 on the UH chart.
>> Junior center Elyse Lemay-Lavoie, a member of the Canadian national team, was second on the team in goals per match average at 1.86 (to Gonzalez’s 2.12). She scored a goal in every match she played in 2018 and picked up BWC second-team honors.
>> Senior utility player Femke Aan, who has experience with The Netherlands’ junior squad, picked up a BWC honorable mention after contributing 37 goals as the Wahine’s fifth overall scorer.
Only three teams have won national championships in the sport, which debuted as an official NCAA sport in 2001 — UCLA (seven), Stanford (six), and USC (five). All three of those schools compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in water polo.
It’s unfortunate the UH Water Polo team does not get the recognition as the Wahine volleyball teams. Coach Cole has consistently put together teams that are competitive and finish in the Top 10 most years. Many of her players come from Europe, Australia, Canada. Even from Maui. But most of the time, you will find a postage stamp article of the Wah8ne water polo team on the top, right-hand corner of the back page of the sports section. UH Athletics’ marketing department should do a better job of promoting this sport and UH’s success.