After falling to third-ranked UCLA in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Women's Water Polo Championship Friday, fourth-ranked Hawai'i proceeded to make its case for the NCAA Tournament the final two days.

The Rainbow Wahine squeaked past seventh-ranked San Diego State in overtime Saturday and held off fifth-ranked San Jose State, 8-7, yesterday to take fifth. Two goals were scored in the second half, none in the final quarter.

UCLA, SJSU and Hawai'i tied for fourth in the regular season, with UH seeded sixth after losing the tiebreakers.

Top-seeded Southern California trailed 4-1 at halftime, but rallied to win the MPSF's automatic NCAA bid by overtaking second-seeded Stanford, 6-5, in the championship last night at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex.

The Rainbow Wahine (18-8) hope to get one of three at-large bids to next month's NCAA Tournament in Maryland. They have won nine of their last 10 and been ranked in the top four since beating the Bruins for the first time in history in February.

"We believe it's in our favor," said UH coach Michel Roy. "There's a selection committee and there's always a political side so we're waiting.

"The top teams are so close. You look at our last few games ... but overall we had a better season than others ... I think we are more competitive against 1, 2 and 3. (Fifth-ranked) Cal is very close. We beat them by one. I guess that's why they've got criteria and I think it's in our favor."

Hawai'i's match with San Jose State was never separated by more than a goal in the first half. Dagmar Genee scored a minute into the game to give the Rainbow Wahine the lead. The first quarter ended 3-all and UH went up 7-6 at the half when Carmen Eggens scored with :12 showing.

Monika Eggens' second goal, 3:40 into the second half, proved to be the game-winner. The Spartans (20-14) answered with a goal by Adriana Vogt with just under two minutes left in the third quarter but, like UH, went scoreless the final 9 minutes-plus.

"It was a very clean game, very tactical," Roy said. "They did something that took us a while to figure out. It was really good water polo. Defensively we were both good, offensively we both missed opportunities."

The MPSF announced its all-conference team during the final match. Senior All-American Kelly Mason is the only Rainbow Wahine on first team. Sophomore Leonie Van Der Molen is honorable mention and Monika Eggens was named to the All-Freshman team.