California Irvine Athletics

IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine women's water polo team dives into the 2025 slate on Jan 24 at the Lancer Invitational on the campus of California Baptist.

The Anteaters will play two games that day, taking on No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 3 USC. Here are five things Director of Water Polo Dan Klatt would like you to know before UCI tackles two top 25 opponents.
 
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW FOR 2025

1. POLL POSITION
For the second straight season, UC Irvine was picked to finish atop the Big West in the regular season with 44 total points and three first place votes. The Anteaters beat out both Hawai'i (42 points, one first place) and Long Beach State (41 points, four first place) for the top spot. UCI last won the regular season crown in the 2023 season and finished second in the 2024 campaign behind the Rainbow Wahine and ahead of the Beach.
 
2. CENTER OF ATTENTION
The Anteaters look forward to the return of center Nioka Thomas, an instrumental piece of UCI's offense and defense, who sat out of the 2024 campaign to train with the Australian national team ahead of the Paris Olympics. Thomas had a standout season in 2023 that led to All-American Second Team and All-Big West First Team honors. The center scored 53 goals on 94 shots to go along with nine hat-tricks while adding eight assists, nine steals, and three field blocks. 
 
3. RETURN OF HETT
UCI returns now sophomore attacker Lauren Hett off her Big West Freshman of the Year campaign. Hett finished 2024 second on the squad in field blocks (10), goals (40), points (53), and third in steals (25). The attacker was named the league's Player of the Week on Apr. 3 after a six-goal week. She played an instrumental role in UCI's 14-13 overtime victory at Long Beach State where she scored five of the last six Anteater goals, including the game winner, in a contest that determined the final league standings. Hett was the first Anteater to earn the honor since Isabel Rack in 2018 and was the sixth to be named to the award in program history.
 
4. HOSTS WITH THE MOST
UC Irvine will play hosts to the 2025 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship from April 25-27. The Anteaters are accustomed to hosting large-scale tournaments at the Anteater Aquatics Complex, including the Barbara Kalbus Invitational (Feb. 21-23) that see's high-level competition that will help UCI prepare for the conference championship. UCI last hosted the Big West tournament in 2018 where they won the championship title over Hawaii, 8-7 in a sudden death victory, to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
5. SENIOR CLASS
In 2025, the junior, now senior class of Libby Alexander, Kennedy East, Brooke Hourigan, Gracie Helberg, and Madi O'Hara, are expected to once again perform above the rest.
 
Alexander earned her first postseason career honors following a standout junior campaign as she was named to the All-Big West First Team and honored as an ACWPC Third Team All-American. Hourigan, in her first season as an Anteater, finished third on the team in goals (31) and fourth in both points (44) and steals (17). O'Hara led the Anteaters with 27 drawn exclusions while East topped the squad with 12 field blocks.
 
The quintet contributed positively through their leadership and performance in 2024 and are held to high expectations for the champion-minded squad.