The No. 5 University of Hawai‘i water polo team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament with a 15-10 loss to No. 4 California in the national quarterfinals on Friday afternoon in La Jolla, Calif.
Hawai‘i's 2026 season ends at 16-6 overall. With the loss, the Rainbow Wahine fell short of their third NCAA semifinal appearance.
"Obviously got to give a lot of credit to Berkeley, they played excellent," Hawai‘i head coach James Robinson said following the match. "Played really, really well in all phases. We had our opportunities, but at the end of the day, Cal played great.
"But, super proud of our team. The season that we put together, extended our season as long as we really could at the end of the day, but would have loved to have taken it a little farther. Proud of our group, happy about the season that we were able to put together."
The Rainbow Wahine never led on Friday, falling behind 5-2 near the end of the first quarter. For each goal the 'Bows had, the Bears had an answer, never allowing UH to get closer than one goal before pulling away in the fourth with a 3-1 run in the final five minutes.
Leading all scorers on Friday was Hawai‘i redshirt sophomore Agatha Weston, the 2026 Big West Conference Player of the Year. Weston's five goals tied a UH record for the second most in an NCAA Tournament match in program history.
"It's a team sport. There's seven of us in the pool at a time, and my openings were there," Weston said. "Credit to my teammates opening that up for me."
Added Robinson: "[Weston has been] nothing short of awesome. We missed her last season [due to injury]. We're super excited to have her back and hope that she builds a lot of confidence off of what she's able to do when you put together an entire season. A lot of work goes into her making sure she stays healthy, which a lot of people don't notice, but her ability to be active, be present every day at practice ... super proud."
While the vast majority of Hawai‘i's sports will depart for the Mountain West Conference this summer, water polo is one of four teams on campus that will stay in the Big West as affiliate members. The others are men's volleyball, beach volleyball, and men's swimming and diving.
Led by Weston, who will be a junior in 2027, the Rainbow Wahine figure to be Big West favorites again next year. At the same time, Robinson will need to replace a third of the roster, as seven of the team's 21 players in 2026 were seniors.
"It's always tough saying goodbye to the seniors," Robinson said. "This group, there's seven of them. They started their careers at UH, and they finished their careers at UH, which especially in the modern NCAA environment, it's increasingly more and more rare. So, for them to give everything they gave to this program, being a part of three of the best years of UH water polo history, is incredible.
"But for them, I know they can leave with their heads held high, knowing that they established a standard and they were incredible, and kind of building off of that, what they were able to do, what the rest of this team has been able to do the last couple of years, the goal is to always put yourself in a position to compete this weekend. So, really excited about the future. It's always a puzzle putting together the new team, but it's going to be exciting."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
