2026 Men’s Collegiate Club Sierra Pacific Division Schedule
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases a reorganized 2026 Men’s Collegiate Club Sierra Pacific Division schedule following multiple changes.
Following the decision of both the University of California-Davis “B” and California Polytechnic Maritime Academy to not compete combined with the recent election of Stanford University to play in 2026, the division changes to a nine-team field with California State University-Chico, California State University-Monterey Bay, Fresno State University, San Jose State University, the University of California, the University of California-Davis, the University of California-Santa Cruz, the University of San Francisco and Stanford.
The Sierra Pacific Division will contest its 15th season in the CWPA with UC-Santa Cruz (2011), California (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), Cal Maritime (2019, 2024) and Chico State (2025) combining to claim all 14 previous championship titles. The 2020 season was not contested due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first weekend of division competition on Friday-Sunday, October 16-18, is adjusted due to the inclusion of Stanford with all games during the weekend using six-minute quarters with sudden death overtime and teams limited to one timeout per half.
Further, the Sierra Pacific Division Championship on Saturday-Sunday, October 24-25, expands to a nine-team field with games on Saturday, October 24, using six minute quarters with sudden death overtime and teams limited to one timeout per half.
The schedule could change again depending on UC-Sana Cruz’s ability to acquire the weekend of Saturday-Sunday, November 7-8. If UC-Santa Cruz can acquire the November 7-8 date, the Sierra Pacific Championship will move to that weekend with a second regular season weekend at UC-Santa Cruz occurring on October 24-25. However, the November 7-8 weekend conflicts with the National Collegiate Club Championship in Huntsville, Alabama. If this were to occur:
- Step 1 – UC-Santa Cruz would need to decline their opportunity to go to Nationals if they qualify
- Step 2 – The weekend of October 24-25 would become a second regular season weekend
- Step 3 – The team qualifying to attend the national championship will be selected by their record during the regular season
- Step 4 – The weekend of November 7-8 would become the Sierra Pacific Division Championship at UC-Santa Cruz
In this case, the Sierra Pacific team qualifying to attend the National championship will be the regular season champion, separate from the division champion crowned during the weekend of November 7-8 potentially at UC-Santa Cruz. A determination regarding UC-Santa Cruz’s ability to acquire the latest date is pending.
