USC Holds Top Spot, Cal Pulls Even With UC Irvine At #5 In CWPA Women’s Polls

Courtesy: Collegiate Water Polo

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The University of Southern California remains the top-ranked team in women’s water polo as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the 2021 Week 7/March 24 Women’s Varsity National Top 25, Division III Top 5, CWPA Top 4 and CWPA Division III Top 5 Polls.

The University of Michigan remains unanimous top selection in the CWPA Top 4 Poll, while Austin College leads the CWPA Division III Top 5.  California Lutheran University also maintains top billing in the Division III Top 5 Poll.

Voted on by a panel of coaches from the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the Golden Coast Conference, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the Big West Conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and the CWPA based on the cumulative results of the season, the polls are compiled and released on Wednesday during the season.

2021 WOMEN’S VARSITY NATIONAL TOP 25 (WEEK 7/MARCH 24)

The University of Southern California stays at No. 1 in the Week 7/March 24 Women’s Varsity Top 25 Poll.

USC (99 points) once again falls one point shy of being a unanimous top selection as the Trojans’ hold on the top spot shrinks to three points.  The first four position in the Top 25 remain unchanged as Stanford University (96 points), the University of California-Los Angeles (92 points) and Arizona State University (88 points) hang on at No. 2-to-4, respectively.

The first change comes at No. 5 as the University of California (80 points) pulls even with the University of California-Irvine (80 points).

The University of Michigan (77 points) breaks out of a tie with the University of Hawaii (69 points) to acquire sole possession of the No. 7 berth and drop the Rainbow Wahine back to No. 8.

Fresno State University (66 points) is the lone newcomer to the Top 10 as the team takes over at No. 9 with the University of California-San Diego (64 points) sticking at No. 10 for another week.

The University of California-Davis (62 points), the University of California-Santa Barbara (61 points), University of the Pacific (49 points) and Indiana University (48 points) rise and sink to rate at No. 11-to-14 with the trio of San Diego State University (45 points), Long Beach State University (40 points) and San Jose State University (38 points) remaining at No. 15-to-17, respectively, for another seven-day run.

California Baptist University (30 points) improves three places to take over at No. 18 with Loyola Marymount University (25 points) backing up one position to rate at No. 19.

The final six positions in the Top 25 are all involved in ties as Marist College (24 points) and Azusa Pacific University (24 points) are knotted at No. 20, Santa Clara University (11 points) and Bucknell University (11 points) are squared at No. 22 and La Salle University (5 points) and Iona College (5 points) are deadlocked at No. 24.

2021 WOMEN’S VARSITY DIVISION III TOP 5 (WEEK 1/MARCH 24)

California Lutheran University retains its preseason position at No. 1 in the Week 1/March 24 Women’s Varsity Division III Top 5 Poll.

The Division III rankings are unique for 2021 as Cal Lutheran, Chapman University and the University of Redlands of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) elected to compete, while the California Institute of Technology, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Occidental College, the University of La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and Whittier College are taking off the season due to the pandemic.  In the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), Connecticut College, Macalester College and Utica College are competing in minimal schedules and Monmouth College is taking off the season prior to eliminating women’s water polo following the 2020-21 academic year.

Austin College, Carthage College, Grove City College, Penn State Behrend and Wittenberg University will contest full CWPA Division III league seasons and are slated to compete for the league’s Division III title at Carthage on April 17-18.

Due to the number of teams competing, the normally Division III Top 10 poll was cut down to five teams to maintain proportionality between the number of competing programs and national ranking size.

Cal Lutheran (99 points) and Redlands (96 points) stay at No. 1 and 2, while Chapman (87 points) acquires company at No. 3 from Austin.  Wittenberg completes the Top 5 as the Tigers break into the rankings after receiving votes last week.

2021 WOMEN’S VARSITY COLLEGIATE WATER POLO ASSOCIATION TOP 4 (WEEK 7/MARCH 24)

Four-time defending Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion the University of Michigan remains the top team in the league as the Wolverines lead the 2021 CWPA Division I Week 7/March 24 Top Four Poll as a unanimous No. 1 selection.

The 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 league champion, Michigan (100 points) retains a five-point lead over runner-up Bucknell University (95 points) as the poll remains unchanged from last week.

Saint Francis University (90 points) and first-year varsity program Mount St. Mary’s University (85 points) complete the Top 4.

2021 WOMEN’S VARSITY COLLEGIATE WATER POLO ASSOCIATION DIVISION III TOP 5 (WEEK 2/MARCH 24)

2019 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III runner-up Austin College maintains its preseason and Week 1 rankings as the Kangaroos stand at No. 1 in the Week 2/March 24 CWPA Division III Top 5 Poll.

A unanimous top selection last week with a seven-point lead, the ‘Roos margin shrinks to one point this week as Wittenberg University (95 points) charges into the No. 2 spot.

Penn State Behrend (87 points) and Carthage College (68 points) rise and fall to rate at No. 3 and 4, while Grove City College (67 points) completes the Top 5 in the final position.