LOS ANGELES – The University of Hawai'i women's water polo team opened the MPSF Tournament with an 8-6 loss against host UCLA in the first round Friday afternoon at the Spieker Aquatics Center on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. 

The Rainbow Wahine, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, lost to No. 5 seed UCLA. In the rankings, UCLA was ranked No. 4, while UH was ranked No. 5.

UH will now face No. 8 seed Arizona State on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Rainbow Wahine are now 16-8 overall with two games remaining in the MPSF Tournament.

With the score tied 5-5 to start the fourth period, UCLA broke the tie 16 seconds into the fourth period, taking a 6-5 lead. The score remained by one until UCLA scored with 1:50 left in the game to increase its lead to 7-5. UH came right back with a goal by Amarens Genee with 1:24 left to cut the lead to 7-6. With 37 seconds left, UCLA iced the game with a goal to take an 8-6 lead.

To start the second half, UH scored the first goal, on Monika Eggens' second goal of the game at the 5:21 mark, cutting the lead to 5-4. Monika Eggens scored her third goal of the game at the 1:05 mark of the third period to tie the game 5-5.

The Rainbow Wahine got on the board at the 5:13 mark of the second period when Monika Eggens scored on a power play opportunity. Eggens' goal cut the UCLA lead to 2-1. The Bruins came back with three consecutive goals within two minutes to take a 5-1 lead with 1:33 left in the half. Carmen Eggens stopped UCLA's run with a goal at the 1:15 mark, cutting the lead to 5-2. Dagmar Genee added a goal with 14 seconds left, cutting the lead to 5-3 at the half.

In the first period, the Bruins scored first at the 2:12 mark to take a 1-0 lead. UH had three power play opportunities before the first goal of the match, but failed to score on all three. The Bruins added a penalty shot to end the first period and take a 2-0 lead.