USC In Top Spot Of Women's Varsity Poll

April 3, 2013

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Southern California continues to reign at No. 1 as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the Week 11/April 3 National Top 20, Division III Top 10, CWPA Division I/II Top 10 and CWPA Division III Top Five.

USC joins Grove City College (CWPA Division III Top Five) as one of only two teams to defend its No. 1 ranking in one of the CWPA's four weeky polls.  The University of Michigan (CWPA Division I/II Top 10) andCalifornia Lutheran University (Division III Top 10) are the newcomers to top-billing as the Wolverines and Regals climb to No. 1 in the other two weekly polls.

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

2013 Women's Varsity National Top 20

The University of Southern California garnered 100 points for the sixth time in as many weeks to retain its position as the unanimous top team in the 2013 Week 11/April 3 Women's Varsity National Top 20 Poll.

USC, which displaced Stanford University (95 points) for the top position, leads a Top 10 which experienced no changes from the March 27 balloting.

Stanford, Arizona State University (89 points), the University of California-Los Angeles (86 points) and the University of California (80 points), San Diego State University (75 points), the University of California-Irvine (69 points), the University of Hawaii (67 points), Long Beach State University(59 points) and San Jose State University (56 points) complete the Top 10 as the squads all retained their spots from last week.

Loyola Marymount University (47 points) also hangs on at No. 11, while Princeton University (40 points) jumps up two places to take over at No. 12 in the wake of an 8-7 overtime loss by former No. 12 Indiana University to the University of Michigan.

California State University-Northridge (38 points) hangs on at No. 13, with Indiana (32 points) and Michigan (27 points) settling in at No. 14-to-15, respectively.

The University of California-Santa Barbara (26 points), University of California-San Diego (22 points),University of California-Davis (21 points), University of the Pacific (11 points) and Hartwick College (4 points) complete the Top 20.

 

 

2013 Women's Varsity Division III Top 10

 For the second time this season, the No. 1 position in the Women's Varsity National Division III Top 10 Poll changes hands as California Lutheran University (97 points) climbs two positions to take over at No. 1 in the Week 11/April 3 balloting.

The changes snaps a four-week run by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the top position as CMS had previously ranked at No. 1 since the Week 7 Poll.

Overall, Cal Lutheran is the third team to hold the No. 1 position in the Division III Top 10 this year as Pomona-Pitzer opened the year with seven consecutive weeks (Preseason-to-Week 6) before CMS took over from March 6 until this week.

In part the change comes due to a pair of wins by Cal Lutheran over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (10-9 L) andChapman University (12-6 W), combined with a 9-8 loss by CMS to Brown University.

Behind Cal Lutheran, CMS (95 points) sinks to No. 2, with Pomona-Pitzer (93 points) also sliding one position to No. 3.

The biggest mover of the week is Whittier College (84 points) as the Poets went 4-0 with victories over Siena College (7-5 W), University of La Verne (7-4 W), California Institute of Technology (12-1 W) and University of Redlands (2-1 W) to leap from No. 7 to No. 4.

Redlands (79 points) and Occidental College (74 points) break out of a tie at No. 4 from last week to settle in at No. 5 and 6, respectively, while Chapman (72 points) slides back to No. 7.

La Verne (65 points), Grove City College (61 points) and Washington & Jefferson College (33 points) complete the Top 10, with Connecticut College (22 points) also receiving votes.

 

 

2013 Women's CWPA Division I/II Top 10

For the second time in as many weeks, the one-week reign of a team on top of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division I/II Poll comes to an end as the University of Michigan picks up 97 points to assume the slot as the top selection based on the Week 11/April 3 voting.

The Wolverines return to the No. 1 berth for the first time since the April 25, 2012 poll thanks to an 8-7 overtime win at former No. 1 Indiana University over the weekend.

Michigan becomes the third team this season to rank at No. 1 in the CWPA. 2012 CWPA Eastern ChampionPrinceton University held the No. 1 position for the most weeks this year at six times as the Tigers topped the rankings in the Preseason-to-Week 4 voting before returning to the top position two weeks ago.  Indiana held the No. 1 berth for five weeks in taking over from Princeton for the Week 5-to-8 polls before returning to No. 1 last week.

The Tigers (94 points), Hartwick College (90 points) and the Hoosiers (89 points) remain within striking distance of Michigan, however, as only eight points separate No. 1-to-4, respectively.

The remainder of the Top 10 remains unchanged from last week as Harvard University (80 points), George Washington University (73 points), Brown University (72 points), Bucknell University (65 points),Mercyhurst University (60 points) and Gannon University (33 points) round out the ranked teams.

Notre Dame College (22 points) also received votes this week in falling 11 points shy of breaking into the Top 10.

 

2013 Women's CWPA Division III Top 5

The 2010, 2011 and 2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Champion Wolverines of Grove City College (100 points) remain the top selection as the No. 1 team in the Week 11/April 3 CWPA Division III Top Five Poll.

The No. 1 pick of the league's coaches for the 29th consecutive week, the Wolverines continue to hold a five-point lead over Washington & Jefferson College (95 points) entering the final weekend of regular season competition.

Connecticut College (90 points), Macalester College (85 points) and Carthage College (80 points) rounds out the Top Five as limited action last week prevented even minor changes in the rankings.

The Wolverines, Presidents, Camels, Scots and Lady Reds will join with the Penn State Behrend Lions andUtica College Pioneers to close out the regular season league slate this weekend prior to the Division III Championship on April 12-13 at Connecticut to decide the division champion and automatic qualifier for the CWPA Eastern Championship on April 26-28 at the University of Michigan.