INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Women’s Water Polo Committee announced the nine teams vying for the 2026 National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship on Monday. Seven teams have been placed in the bracket; the remaining two teams will compete for the last berth in the bracket via an opening-round game.
The championship, hosted by the University of California, San Diego, will have the opening round game played on April 22 with the championship following April 24-26. The first round, semifinal and championship games will be played at the Canyonview Pool in La Jolla, California. The 2026 championship will be an eight-team, single-elimination tournament.
In the opening-round game, Wagner (15-12) will play CUI (20-9), with the winner advancing to the championship bracket to play Stanford (14-1) in Game 1. Rounding out the bracket will be California (14-7) taking on Hawaii (16-5) in Game 2, UCLA (20-4) competing against Harvard (26-3) in Game 3 and Southern California (22-3) facing Loyola Marymount (23- 4) in Game 4. Please reference the bracket for all game times.
Conferences receiving automatic qualification include the Big West Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Western Water Polo Association. The remaining three teams were selected at-large without geographical restrictions.
The first round and semifinal games will be streamed on krikya18.com. The national championship game will take place on April 26 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU. For more information about the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship and the 2026 championship bracket, log on to krikya18.com.
