For the 2019 NCAA women’s water polo season—which officially opened on Saturday, January 12th when Marist faced Arizona State at the ASU Invitational—today, Swimming World completed all the previews of the seven varsity conferences—Big West, Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), Golden Coast Conference (GCC), Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and Western Water Polo Association (WWPA)—that will send teams to the 2019 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament.
As a benchmark, we used the CWPA Women’s Varsity Preseason Poll that released on January 16th as a gauge for rankings. Obviously, rankings change on a weekly basis, but the many coaches and knowledgeable individuals who oversee that poll provide invaluable perspective on where individual teams stand. Swimming World also refers to preseason coaches polls in determining previews; again, these are invaluable instruments for assigning relative value for specific programs.
The Big West Conference; our pick is: University of Hawai’i
The Collegiate Water Polo Association; our pick is: Michigan University
The Golden Coast Conference; our pick is: University of Pacific
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; our pick is: Wagner College
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation; our pick is University of Southern California
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; our pick is: Pomona-Pitzer Colleges
The Western Water Polo Association; our pick is: University of California San Diego
Over the past week, Swimming World posted previews of the seven conferences that will send teams to the 2019 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament which will be held from Thursday, May 10 through 12 at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center.
In addition, as in previous years we did features with water polo coaches from each of the conferences:
The Big West: Matt Warshaw of Cal State University at Northridge (CSUN)
The CWPA: Derek Ellingson, Head Coach at Princeton University
The GCC: Natalie Benson, Fresno State University
The MAAC: Larry Sanders, Head Coach at Villanova University
The MPSF: Adam Wright, Head Coach at University of California at Los Angeles
SCIAC: Pat Beemer, Head Coach at La Verne
The WWPA: Shane Unger, Head Coach at Gannon University