After 33 games, it’s time to start over.

Spring break on the University of Hawaii campus separated the nonconference schedule from the Big West season for the Rainbow Wahine softball team. At 16-17, the Wahine take the lessons of a roller-coaster run through six early-season tournaments into today’s conference opener at UC Davis.

“Playing against all those good teams we got to challenge … we learned from it, and now that we get to go into conference 0-0, I think we’re more aggressive going into this week,” UH junior center fielder Ulu Matagiese said.

After closing out a 21-game homestand on March 19, the Wahine open the Big West schedule in Northern California with a three-game series at UC Davis (11-16) starting today at La Rue Field. Today’s single game is set for noon Hawaii time, with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. in UH’s second road trip this season and first since mid-February.

“Right now they’re fresh, they’re healed a little bit and we have a little different mind-set,” UH coach Bob Coolen said.

Having hosted tournaments for four straight weeks, the Wahine used spring break to recharge for the conference season, focusing on strength and conditioning to complement their on-field work.

“This spring break was very good for us. We got to train way harder than we had since fall,” said Matagiese, UH’s third-leading hitter at .280 with 14 runs batted in. “We got into the weight room more and got our strength and power level up where it needs to be.”

The Wahine will try to pump up an offense trailing the rest of the league in batting average at .238 heading into seven weekends of Big West play with UH alternating road and home series.

UH and UC Davis are the only Big West teams under .500 through nonconference play and two teams rank in the top 40 in the NCAA RPI (No. 36 Cal State Fullerton and No. 38 Long Beach State), with two more in the top 75 (No. 68 Cal Poly, No. 74 CSUN). The conference’s best record belongs to UC Riverside at 17-3-1, although the Highlanders are two spots behind UH in the RPI at 129.

“We have the capability and our pitchers have been keeping us in the games,” Coolen said.

However …

“(The league leaders) are hitting .300-plus and we’re not and that’s why we’re losing some close ballgames.”

UH ranks fourth in the league with a 3.48 earned-run average and sophomore Brittany Hitchcock (6-8, 2.65) is scheduled to start today’s game. Hitchcock enters the UC Davis series with a team-high 58 strikeouts and is second in the nation in walks per seven innings, having issued just four free passes in 871⁄3 innings.

Coolen plans to give freshman Jennifer Iseri (3-2, 3.64) the ball for the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, with junior Kanani Aina Cabrales (7-7, 3.73) slated for a relief role. Aina Cabrales has made seven appearances out of the bullpen and has 54 strikeouts in 92 innings.

“She has to go in with the mind-set, ‘I’m different than the two pitchers I’m coming in behind,’ one being a lefty (Iseri), one being a dropball pitcher (Hitchcock), and she comes in with a whole different set of (pitches),” Coolen said. “We need to have her have that mentality of being the electrified closer for us.”

The top two batters in the UH order hold the same places in the hitting chart, with leadoff hitter Sarah Muzik batting a team-best .288, followed by fellow freshman Nicole Lopez at .284. Lopez also has driven in a team-high 18 runs, followed by sophomore catcher Rachel Lack’s 15.

UC Davis’ offense is based on speed — the Aggies rank 10th nationally with a league-high 63 steals while being thrown out just seven times. Junior outfielder Brianna Warner is hitting .329 and has already broken the Aggies’ single-season record with 27 stolen bases. She has yet to be thrown out and ranks third in the nation with 1.04 steals her game.

The Aggies own the highest ERA in the conference at 4.27 and opponents are hitting .316 against UCD pitching.