The word “patience” echoed out across Spieker Aquatics Center, a statement repeated by Hawaiʻi coach James Robinson from his team’s bench.

But patience wasn’t enough for the Rainbow Wahine to overcome the Bruins.

After playing from behind in the first quarter, No. 4 UCLA women’s water polo (17-4, 4-1 MPSF) pulled off a 7-0 run across the second quarter to ultimately best No. 3 Hawaiʻi (18-4, 6-0 Big West) in a Saturday evening 16-9 home victory.

Despite historically having the upper hand against the Rainbow Wahine 45-4, an earlier matchup this season told a different story, ending in an 8-5 Bruin defeat. But this time, the Bruins came in with something to prove – and they delivered.

“I think we’re a much different team than the last time we played Hawaiʻi,” said sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Steele. “We wanted to come out here and prove that our brand of water polo is much different than it was, and for us it was focusing on defensive stops.”

Both benches erupted with energy from the start. The shouts of Robinson and coach Adam Wright reverberated across the pool deck as each team fought to set the tone.

The Rainbow Wahine did just that in the first two minutes of play, as attacker Ema Vernoux made the first mark on the scoreboard. That point was eventually responded to by junior utility Genoa Rossi, who scored the Bruins’ first goal.

Hawaiʻi didn’t stop there either, posting three more goals while preventing UCLA from adding to their total, increasing the Hawaiʻi advantage to 4-1. As the clock trickled down for the first quarter, the Bruins logged two more goals but the squad still felt frazzled, said assistant coach Brooke Maxson.

“We looked a little frantic in the first quarter,” Maxson said. “We just told them to settle in and just kind of listen to each other and find the holes, find the gap.”

The Bruins did just that, going on a 7-0 run in the second quarter to lead to a 10-5 UCLA advantage at the end of the half.

“I think our defense started getting the blocks,” Steele said. “That gave me more confidence to be able to block the ball and I think we were able to dictate where the shot came from.”

After winning the second quarter 7-1, it was all UCLA thereafter, as it won the third period 4-3 and maintained a 14-8 lead going into the final stanza.

Junior utility Anna Pearson, who recorded a team-high and game-high four goals, said it came down to their mentality.

“Just being able to go line for line is something we really emphasize,” Pearson said. “Having a fresh line going every time, we’re lights out on defense. We can play hard defense and that obviously just fuels our offense.”

As the third quarter wound down, both coaches could be heard yelling instructions over one another with 15 seconds remaining on the clock.

In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter – under a fading orange sky – it may have felt like UCLA was drawing more fouls than usual, but with a six-goal cushion, it held strong.

UCLA finished the contest with a 16-9 victory to end its final non-conference game of its regular season.

“We wanted to use the last games to motivate us to just come out and show them that they didn’t play the real UCLA,” Pearson said. “Today we wanted to show them all the hard work we’re putting in.”