Arizona State Water Polo heads to the Aloha State for the Rainbow Invitational after starting its season with four consecutive wins this past weekend defeating all of its opponents in the ASU Invitational in Tempe
After a pair of Top 25 wins against San Diego State and UC Davis, the Sun Devils (4-0) travel to Honolulu, Hawaii and will face Biola University (Calif.) (0-2), Loyola Marymount University (1-1), and the University of Hawaii (1-1).
Biola was defeated by fellow California schools, the University of Southern California and Cal State University Fullerton at the Beach Invite in Long Beach. The No. 3 ranked Trojans comfortably defeated Biola 20-6, but Biola kept it close in their meeting with CSUF only losing by two goals, 10-8. They are led by senior utility Lizzy Birch who was named WWPA Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts last weekend. Her elite defense will be critical in stifling a highly potent ASU offense that has recorded double-digit goals in all of its games this season.
Last year ASU defeated Biola 20-6 at the Convergence Tournament. Of the returners, sophomore attacker Kat Featherstone, junior center Sophie Shorter-Robinson, and sophomore attacker Alison Kokorowski combined for 11 of the 20 goals. Shorter-Robinson was exceptional this past weekend scoring 14 goals over the course of the four games. ASU will no doubt be looking to get that production level from her alongside the two other key players this upcoming Friday.
LMU enters the Rainbow Invitational with a chance to justify its No. 10 preseason ranking. Like Biola, LMU fell to USC last weekend and won its other match over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 16-5. LMU returns 21 players from last year’s team, which went 27-3.
The Sun Devils were victorious when LMU visited Tempe in 2024, winning by a score of 12-7. Their defense was the story in that one, despite allowing 30 shots to the Lions. This may also be the case this upcoming Saturday if they want to make it back-to-back years with a win over LMU. Junior attacker Millie Quin found the back of the net three times and junior goalie Sanne Keijzer withstood an elite LMU offense making seven saves.
The No. 5 Hawaii Rainbow Wahine began their season in arguably the toughest tournament in the country, Fresno State’s Polopalooza. UH faced the No. 18 San Jose State University Spartans and the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal. They were able to split its games falling to Stanford in a valiant effort, 12-7, but made easy work of SJSU, 15-6. The ladder of the two gave recently appointed head coach James Robinson his first win in the position. He served as an assistant coach at UH since 2022.
UH and ASU have not met since 2020, a game the Rainbow Warriors won 15-5. Led by senior attacker Bernadette Doyle who scored four times vs SJSU, tying a career-high. Last season she was ACWPC All-America Second Team and the MVP of the Big West Championships. The match will be the last game in the tournament, getting underway at 9:00 p.m. AZT, and an elite opportunity for ASU to stake its claim as a premier team in the nation.
The Rainbow Invitational will serve as a chance for ASU head coach Petra Pardi to gauge where her squad stands amongst some of the best teams in the land. The litmus test will allow the Sun Devils to learn a lot about themselves, and where better to do than the beautiful islands of Hawaii.
