This post was updated June 2 at 11:54 p.m.

The national champions have added more star power to their lineup ahead of next season.

Hawai’i sophomore center Bia Mantellato Dias announced Thursday on the Total Waterpolo Podcast that she will be transferring to UCLA women’s water polo.

“I’m very excited for the next few years,” Mantellato Dias said Saturday night on the Overnght.com broadcast of the Peter J. Cutino Awards. “UCLA is a really special place, and I’m just very excited to be at that level and around those people.”

The news came after Mantellato Dias shared on Instagram on May 17 that she would be leaving Hawai’i, coinciding with the retirement of 13-year coach Maureen Cole at the end of the season.

During her two years at Hawai’i, Mantellato Dias was awarded Big West Player of the Year honors twice, putting up 82 goals during the 2023 season and 64 this past season. Both totals are higher than any Bruin across that period.

The outgoing Rainbow Wahine earned ACWPC First Team All-American honors in 2024, after being named to the Second Team in her freshman campaign.

“It’s very big and obviously emotional for me. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Hawai’i,” Mantellato Dias said on the broadcast. “I’m very grateful for everyone that I met there and everything that I lived there.”

Mantellato Dias was named a finalist for the 2024 Peter J. Cutino Award – handed to the best collegiate water polo player – along with UCLA freshman goalkeeper Lauren Steele. The award was given to the third finalist, California senior goalkeeper Isabel Williams.

Bruin ties already run deep for Mantellato Dias. She belonged to the same Brazilian water polo club as UCLA men’s water polo senior attacker Rafael Real Vergara – another Cutino Award finalist.

Mantellato Dias moved to Newport Beach for her senior year of high school, where she lived with a host family. The São Paulo native said on the Total Waterpolo Podcast that the goal was to ease the recruiting process.

There, she played with UCLA now-sophomores utility Lily Gess and attacker Taylor Smith. The trio won the CIF Southern Section championship in their senior year.

“I had such a special group that welcomed me in their last year – they had been together for three years,” Mantellato Dias said on the broadcast. “It was one of the best years of my life. Winning that CIF was an amazing feeling.”

As a Bruin, Mantellato Dias will add to an already talented sophomore class, including Anna Pearson – deemed one of the best centers in the country by coach Adam Wright – and Australian Olympic team member utility Sienna Green.