By Joclyn Aguirre — Staff Writer
The San Jose State women’s water polo team traveled to Irvine for the Barbara Kalbus Invitational and dropped three of its four matches.
The No. 13 Spartans (3-4) struggled bringing the heat to their first match against No. 5 University of Hawaii.
The Rainbow Wahine scored the first four goals, but junior Sierra Painter broke the momentum and got SJSU on the scoreboard. She finished the match with two goals.
SJSU remained scoreless in the second quarter and had a 7-1 deficit going into halftime. UH outscored it 6-4 in the second half and went on to win 13-5.
Hawaii’s freshman center Emma Van Rossum and senior utility Femke Aan had two goals apiece, tying Painter for match-high scoring honors.
Day 2 consisted of back-to-back games against the No. 17 UC San Diego and No. 25 San Diego State.
The Tritons came in hot the first half by scoring four goals in each of the first three quarters. It would eventually result in a 13-6 loss for the Spartans.
The No. 25 Aztecs lead for most of the game until the Spartans tied it 8-8 in the fourth quarter. With a season-best four saves in the final quarter, freshman goalkeeper Hannah Henry gave the Spartans a winning opportunity in overtime.
Ending the game with a score of 10-9, the Spartans got their first win in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational. Battling hard in the doubleheader, Henry was credited with 28 saves.
Ready to take on No. 17 Long Beach State the following day, the Spartans kept pace and saw themselves heading into another overtime.
Down by one in the second overtime, freshman Olga Descalzi Portell shot with just five seconds on the clock and forced a third and final overtime.
However, LBSU’s freshman Sarah Barker ended the last overtime and lifted the Beach 8-7.
Henry stopped 16 shots in the loss, ending the Barbara Kalbus Invitational with 42 saves.
The Spartans ended the tourney with a 1-3 record to place 14th out of 16 teams.
Up next, SJSU hits the road to take on Santa Clara University on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Follow Joclyn on Twitter @aguirre_joclyn
