HONOLULU, Hawai'i. – UC Davis women's water polo took on No. 5 Hawai'i in the regular season finale but it was the Rainbow Wahine who prevailed with their 12-8 victory on Saturday night.
 
UC Davis (15-13, 3-4 Big West) finishes fifth in the Big West standings following the defeat, setting up a meeting with number-four seed UC San Diego in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.
 
Alyssa Lengtat won all four of the sprints in her contest while matching the team-high with two goals on the night. Grace Pelkey and Ashley Salem also enjoyed multi-goal games, scoring two goals apiece.
 
How It Happened
UC Davis started on the front foot as Pelkey and Lengtat quickly fired the Aggies into a 2-0 lead. Hawai'i got a goal back at the 2:29 mark in the first period before Salem restored the two-goal advantage less than a minute later. The Rainbow Wahine pulled within one just before the whistle blew to end the first period, and UC Davis would hold a 3-2 lead after eight minutes.
 
A powerplay goal from Hawai'i leveled the score at 3-3 early in the second quarter. This sparked a 3-0 run for the hosts before Noëlle Wijnbelt finally pulled a goal back for UC Davis. The back-and-forth battle continued when Ally Clague found the back of the cage to even things up at 5-5. However, the Rainbow Wahine scored twice before the half to take a two-goal lead into the break.
 
Hawai'i opened the scoring in the third period to extend the lead to three. Lengtat answered with her second goal of the night but the hosts rallied for another three-goal scoring run to make it a five-goal advantage with just over five minutes left to play. Pelkey and Salem each netted their second goals of the game to bring the Aggies within three, but Hawai'i would hang on for the 12-8 win.
 
Up Next
UC Davis has earned the number-five seed in the Big West Conference Tournament starting on April 28 in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Aggies will take on number-four seed UC San Diego in an 11 a.m. quarterfinal matchup at UCSB Campus Pool.