For the next three days, the best collegiate women's water polo players in the country will be in the pool at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex as the University of Hawai'i hosts the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.

Or, as it is informally known, a sneak peek at the next Olympics.

Adam Krikorian, who has led UCLA to the last four NCAA Championships, is the new U.S. women's coach. The Rainbow Wahine, who had two alumna on the Dutch gold-medal team in Beijing, could have as many as six playing in the next Games, from three countries. The U.S. women's team in Beijing had one player not from USC, UCLA, Cal or Stanford.

The MPSF is currently made up of the eight top-ranked teams in the country. The NCAA Tournament can't make that claim. Stanford is ranked No. 1, but seeded second here behind USC. The Rainbow Wahine are ranked fourth but seeded sixth after losing out on a three-way tiebreaker with San Jose State and Cal.

The luck of that draw leaves Hawai'i (16-7) opening against third-ranked, third-seeded and six-time NCAA champ UCLA (20-5) today at 4:30 p.m.

It is a fascinating first-round match, particularly because it is here.

In the second week of the season, the Rainbow Wahine got six goals from senior Kelly Mason to rally past UCLA, 13-12. It was their first win ever over the Bruins, after 32 futile tries. It also snapped UCLA's 46-game winning streak, longest in NCAA history. It kicked the 'Bows to third in the nation, their highest ranking ever.

The Bruins bounced back to beat UH twice, making this match the marquee first-day game. The 'Bows have won their last seven, but haven't played an official match since April 3, working with the Canadian and Australian national teams since.

UH coach Michel Roy called that training "fantastic" and believes his team is "more ready than we have been all season."

"I wish we could have been fourth and play the fifth-place team. It would have been good for us," he said. "But we have a chance against UCLA. We're ready. We match up well with them. We have good size at center forward, good speed, outside shooting ... and if we don't win we could come through the back door and win the next two. Then we'd have a good chance of going to the NCAAs because we'd be fifth (in the tournament) and still ranked fourth because we beat Berkeley."

The ninth annual NCAA Championship is May 8 to 10 in Maryland and brings together conference champions from the MPSF, WWPA, SCIAC, CWPA and MAC, along with three at-large selections.

Junior Leonie Van Der Molen, from the Netherlands, and Mason, from New Zealand, lead Hawai'i in scoring, averaging just more than two goals a game. They rank ninth and 10th in the MPSF. Sophomore goalie Serena Bredin, from Canada, is fifth in saves.

This team has been low maintenance and high quality all season, according to Roy. One more good weekend could extend the season.

"The players get along very well, they all like each other, go to dinner, hang out," Roy said. "There have been no problems, no gossip. It's a good team. We have all the pieces of the puzzle to make it a good program. We're teaching each other and the team is doing well."

Win or lose, Hawai'i will play Stanford or seventh-seeded San Diego State tomorrow afternoon. For those who haven't seen the game at this level Roy, who used to work with Canada's national program, has some advice.

"There are a lot of whistles because there are a lot of minor fouls," he said. "Just keep paying attention to the game because it's a movement game. Don't pay attention to the whistle unless there are two or three. Then there's a kick-out and a power play.

"Women's water polo is really popular around the world. There is a lot of motion, outside shooting and physical contact, mostly underwater. Watch the play at center forward (in front of the goalie) and watch the goalies — to be a goalie is a very difficult thing. There is a lot of athleticism in water polo. That's what you should look at."