The 2024 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship was the 23rd edition of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, the annual tournament which is to decide the championship of NCAA women's collegiate water polo. The tournament was held from May 10 to May 12, 2024, at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, California. The championship game aired live on ESPNU. Other matches were streamed on NCAA.com. The UCLA Bruins defeated Cal to win the national championship, first since 2009 as well the 8th in this sport plus it was the 123rd NCAA title for the university.
Qualifying teams The field of teams was revealed in a selection show on April 29, 2024. 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 earned entry into the tournament with at-large bids, with all of them coming from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Seed Team Conference Bid type Appearance 1 UCLA MPSF Automatic 22nd2 Hawai'i Big West Automatic 8th3 California MPSF At-large 10th4 Stanford MPSF At-large 23rd USC MPSF At-large 19th Fresno State GCC Automatic 4th Princeton CWPA Automatic 5th Biola WWPA Automatic 2nd Wagner College MAAC Automatic 1st
Schedule and results All times Eastern.
GameTimeMatchupScoreTVAttendance Opening Round – Wednesday, May 8 1 8:00 p.m. Wagner vs. Biola 15–14 NCAA.com Quarterfinals – Friday, May 10 2 3:00 p.m. No. 1 UCLA vs. Wagner 17–7NCAA.com 3 5:00 p.m. No. 4 Stanford vs. USC 8–3 4 7:00 p.m. No. 2 Hawaii vs. Princeton 11–6 5 9:00 p.m. No. 3 California vs. Fresno State 14–7 Semifinals – Saturday, May 11 6 5:00 p.m. No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 4 Stanford 10–8NCAA.com 7 7:00 p.m. No. 2 Hawaii vs. No. 3 California 6–9 Championship – Sunday, May 12 8 10:00 p.m. No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 3 California 7–4 ESPNU 1,585
Tournament bracket
All Tournament Team First Team Lauren Steele (Most Outstanding Player, UCLA) Hannah Palmer (UCLA) Anna Pearson (UCLA) Bia Mantellato Dias (Hawaii) Bernadette Doyle (Hawaii) Maryn Dempsey (California) Sophie Wallace (Stanford)
Second Team Kayla Yelensky (Princeton) Nina Flynn (California) Isabel Williams (California) Hailey Andress (Fresno State) Tina Hicks (Stanford) Ava Striker (USC) Acba Monarusa Boix (Hawaii)
References