- 2022 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship Schedule
- Huntsville Sports Commission
- Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the seeding for the revised 2022 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship slated for Friday-Sunday, May 6-8, and hosted by the Huntsville Sports Commission and Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau in conjunction with the CWPA at the Huntsville Aquatic Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Based on the order of finish at the most recently contested/2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, seeding for the 2022 event is not seeded by ability, since there is no equitable means to determine the respective strength of the teams. Too few teams play outside of their division schedules to create an accurate seeding.
Match-ups are therefore based upon the 2019 National Collegiate Club Championship results by division. Since the New York Division did not compete in 2022, the Heartland Division Champion is attending the Division III Club Championship and there is no host institution for the championship, the runner-ups from the Top Three divisions at the last completed Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship (2019 at the University of Notre Dame) were to receive the No. 14-to-16 positions. A random draw occurred to seed the division runner-ups with the Sierra Pacific, Southeast and Southwest Divisions receiving the No. 14-to-16 positions, respectively.
Seeding for the positions No. 1-9 was based on the results of the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship. The No. 10-13 positions were assigned based on a random draw of the division champions which finished between 10th-to-16 at the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship with the Rocky Mountain, Mid-Atlantic, Texas and Atlantic Divisions acquiring the positions, respectively.
However, No. 4 seed/Sierra Pacific Division Champion California Polytechnic State University and Sierra Pacific Division runner-up Fresno State University informed the league office on Monday, April 25, of their intent to not compete at the 2022 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Per league policy, the positions are replaced in order with Pacific Coast Division runner-up the University of California-Santa Barbara taking over Fresno State University’s spot, while Cal Poly is replaced by the runner-up from the next highest finishing division at the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship – as Midwest Division runner-up Grand Valley State University enters the field.
Due to the No. 4 seed (Cal Poly) exiting the field and to prevent a runner-up from holding a spot above a champion, the positions are adjusted to the following as the Southeast Division Champion will hold the No. 1 position thanks to the University of Florida taking home the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Notre Dame.
- No. 1 Position – Southeast Division (University of Florida)
- No. 2 Position – Sierra Pacific Division (University of California)
- No. 3 Position – Southwest Division (University of California-San Diego)
- No. 4 Position – Midwest Division (University of Notre Dame)
- No. 5 Position – Northwest Division (University of Oregon)
- No. 6 Position – North Atlantic Division (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- No. 7 Position – New England Division (Boston College)
- No. 8 Position – Big Ten Division (University of Michigan)
- No. 9 Position – Rocky Mountain Division (Colorado State University)
- No. 10 Position – Mid-Atlantic Division (Pennsylvania State University)
- No. 11 Position – Texas Division (Texas A&M University)
- No. 12 Position – Atlantic Division (University of Virginia)
- No. 13 Position – Pacific Coast Division Runner-Up (University of California-Santa Barbara)
- No. 14 Position – Southeast Division Runner-Up (University of Central Florida)
- No. 15 Position – Southwest Division Runner-Up (Arizona State University)
- No. 16 Position – Midwest Division Runner-Up (Grand Valley State University)
In the history of the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship, the University of Washington (2000), Michigan State University (2001, 2002, 2006), California Polytechnic State University (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), Fresno State University (2007), the University of California-Davis (2012, 2013, 2017, 2018), San Diego State University (2014 University), the University of California (2015), the University of California-Santa Barbara (2016) and Florida (2019) have previously claimed titles.
Competing in “Rocket City” – the moniker given to Huntsville as Wernher von Braun and his team of fellow German-born rocketeers settled there in the 1950s and the city is home to the United States Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – the 2022 championship marks the second time a national championship water polo event will be hosted in the state of Alabama. In the Fall of 2021, the CWPA hosted the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship in Huntsville with Michigan State University claiming the National Championship.
For fans attending the National Collegiate Club Championship, a three-day tournament pass ($25) or a one-day pass ($10) for the league’s penultimate club championship will be available at the door. All children 12 and under are free of charge. All tickets are exclusively available at the door as there will be no presale in advance of the championship.
Fans who are unable to make the trip to the “Cotton State” for the championship, the CWPA is offering live-streaming of the weekend on a pay-per-view basis through Stretch Internet. Fans can access the stream by CLICKING HERE. The cost of viewership is $10 per game, or $25 for the weekend tournament package that includes all the contested games. In addition, fans can access the stream until July following the conclusion of the tournament.
