MĀNOA — With the amount of urgency the University of Hawai‘i water polo team played with in the final 10 seconds of their match on Friday evening, one would have thought the stakes were much higher for the Rainbow Wahine.
In reality, the 'Bows were polishing off a rout of Cal State Fullerton on senior night, but those closing seconds still had added meaning to head coach James Robinson. In the final minutes of the game, all seven of UH's seniors were playing together for one last time. Raha Peiravani's goal at the buzzer was the exclamation point of a dominant 20-2 rout over the Titans.
The Rainbow Wahine, ranked sixth nationally in the Collegiate Water Polo Association's most recent varsity poll, improved to 13-5 overall and closed Big West regular season play a perfect 6-0. Following the contest, the team honored its seven seniors, then celebrated its third straight conference regular season title by jumping in the pool.
"Today's game was a good one. I thought we approached it the right way from the beginning," Robinson said. "Had to take care of business first, but to be able to celebrate all our seniors was really exciting, and to be able to have all seven of them in the water at the same time to finish the game was a really special moment. We also be captured the Big West regular season, one of our season goals, so it felt good."
Peiravani scored three goals for the Rainbow Wahine, the third hat trick of her career. The Canada native admits her years spent at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex went by faster than she was anticipating.
"It's definitely a very emotional night," she said. "Some of us have been here five years, so it's a whirlwind of emotions, and we're all really grateful for the experience that we've had here, and we've all grown so much as people. I think it's been emotional looking at our past four or five years here and seeing the growth and the change.
"Like they always say, the days are long, the years are quick. And I didn't really understand that until now. I like, blinked, and I'm done. So, yeah, it's gone by very quickly."
Members of the UH water polo team jumped back into the pool after senior night festivities on Friday evening. (Aloha State Daily Staff)
The seven seniors who played together in the closing minutes come from four different countries. Together, they raised the standard of UH water polo, reaching the national semifinals two years in a row.
"It was definitely very emotional, and I think a very unique experience, and we were so lucky that all seven of us got to be in together," Peiravani said. "And I think all of us were just playing for each other and with each other. We an ‘ohana, we're a family, all of us. It's just a very amazing experience to get to close out our years here all together at the same time."
Contributing to Peiravani's sentiments that the season has gone by quickly is the fact that the NCAA pushed its women's water polo championships up two weeks, wrapping up on April 26 in La Jolla, Calif. For UH, the compressed schedule allowed it to have just four official matches and one exhibition at home.
Next up for the Rainbow Wahine is the Big West Tournament, which runs from April 10-12 in Long Beach, Calif.
"I think we're looking very strong," Peiravani said. "We've definitely grown a lot in the past month, and there's still a few things that we need to focus on, but I feel like we're looking really strong, and our team culture is in a very good place."
"They've done a really good job of every single day, treating it as an opportunity to get better, focusing on ourselves," Robinson says of his team.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
