The 2026 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship was the 25th edition of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, the annual tournament to decide the champion of NCAA women's collegiate water polo. The tournament started on April 22 and resumed April 24 through April 26, 2026, at the Canyonview Pool in San Diego, California, which was hosted by University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). The opening match was on ESPN+ but the majority of the tournament was streamed on NCAA.com, while the national championship game was aired live on ESPNU.
Qualifying teams The field of teams was revealed during a selection show that was held on April 13, 2026. Six conferences were granted automatic qualification to the championship: the Big West Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Western Water Polo Association. Three additional teams gained entry into the tournament with at-large bids, all of which came from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Seed Team Conference Bid type Appearance 1 StanfordMPSFAutomatic25th2 UCLAMPSFAt-large24th3 Southern CaliforniaMPSFAt-large22nd4 CaliforniaMPSFAt-large12th Hawai'iBig WestAutomatic10th Loyola MarymountGCCAutomatic11th HarvardCWPAAutomatic2nd WagnerMAACAutomatic12th Concordia IrvineWWPAAutomatic1st
Schedule and results all times Eastern.
GameTimeMatchupScoreTVAttendance Opening Round – Wednesday, April 22 1 9:00 p.m.Wagner vs. CUI10–8 ESPN+ Quarterfinals – Friday, April 24 2 3:00 p.m.Stanford vs. Wagner 18–6NCAA.com 3 5:00 p.m.California vs. Hawai'i 15–10 4 7:00 p.m.UCLA vs. Harvard15–5 5 9:00 p.m.Southern California vs. LMU10–5 Semifinals – Saturday, April 25 6 7:00 p.m. Stanford vs. California 11–13NCAA.com 7 10:00 p.m. UCLA vs. Southern California 10–11 Championship – Sunday, April 26 8 9:00 p.m. California vs. Southern California 9–10 ESPNU
Tournament bracket
All tournament team *Most Valuable Player of the Tournament
First Team
Emily Ausmus* (Southern California) Julia Bonaguidi (California) Anna Pearson (UCLA)
Anna Reed (Southern California) Ava Stryker (Southern California) Eszter Varró (California) Ella Woodhead (Stanford)
Second Team
Juliette Dhalluin (Stanford) Jenna Flynn (Stanford) Rachel Gazzaniga (Southern California) Abbi Magee (California) Taylor Smith (UCLA) Lauren Steele (UCLA) Agatha Weston (Hawai'i)
References