Winter 2021 Men’s Varsity January 27/Week 1 Top 10 & Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Top Five Polls Released

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Defending National Champion Stanford University assumes sole possession of the No. 1 position in the national rankings as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the Week 1/January 27 Winter 2021 Men’s Varsity National Top 10 and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Top Five Polls.

The National Top 10 is a change from the normal Top 20 due to the quantity of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) programs competing during the Winter 2021 season.  Due to 24 of a potential 50 NCAA programs competing at the end of the day on January 27, the Top 20 was diminished to retain the proportionality of the polling.  Normally, a Top 20 would rank approximately 40 percent of all men’s varsity teams – while ranking 20 of the current 24 programs would account for 83.8 percent of the teams.  To retain proportionality, 10-of-24 teams (or approximately 41.7 percent of the competing programs) will be ranked with the remainder of teams receiving votes also being listed for comparison.   

In the MAWPC rankings, defending Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Champion Bucknell University receives company at No. 1 in the Top Five as the Bison and Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy are tied for the lead position.

Voted on by a panel of coaches from the MAWPC, Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC), Golden Coast Conference, Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls will be compiled and released on Wednesdays during the abbreviated Winter 2021 season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship slated for March 18, 20 and 21 on the campus of Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.

Winter 2021 Men’s Varsity National Top 10 (Week 1)

Defending National Champion Stanford University retains is title of the No. 1 team in the country through the inaugural seven days of the Winter 2021 season to top the Week 1/January 27 National Men’s Varsity Top 10 Poll. The National Top 10 is a change from the normally released Top 20 due to a decrease in the number of varsity programs competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stanford (96 points), which downed host University of the Pacific by a 13-8 score in the 2019 NCAA Championship title game held at the Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex in Stockton, Calif., did not compete during the opening weekend of competition.

The University of Southern California, which was tied with Stanford at No. 1 in the Preseason Top 20, drops into another tie as the Trojans are the equals of the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of California as the trio stand shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder at No. 2 with 91 points.  UCLA and California, which rated at No. 3 and 5 last week, pull into a tie with USC due to the trio splitting their games during the opening weekend of competition.  California (17-16 W OT vs. UCLA; 12-9 W vs USC), UCLA (10-7 W vs. California; 11-8 W vs. USC) and USC (9-6 W vs. California; 12-7 W vs. UCLA) each went 2-2 on the weekend.

Pepperdine University (82 points), which did not compete during the first weekend, slips one place to No. 5 due to California’s rise.  Behind Pepperdine, the remainder of the Top 10 experiences radical changes as previously No. 6 the University of California-Santa Barbara, No. 7 the University of California-Davis and No. 8 the University of California-San Diego all elected to not compete during the Winter 2021 season following the release of the Preseason Top 20.

Due to the absence of the trio, positions No. 6-to-10 in the Top 10 trade hands with Loyola Marymount University (72 points) taking over at No. 6 with California Baptist University (66 points), Bucknell University (65 points), the United States Naval Academy (57 points) and George Washington University (56 points) rounding out the rankings.

Winter 2021 Men’s Varsity Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Top 5 (Week 1)

Defending league champion Bucknell University gains company at No. 1 from the United States Naval Academy in the Week 1/January 27 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Top Five Poll.

The 2016 and 2019 MAWPC Champion Bison (95 points) – which held sole custody of the No. 1 spot in the MAWPC’s Preseason Poll – is knotted with the Midshipmen (95 points) with neither team competing in a game yet during the COVID-19 impacted campaign.

The duo lead a new look MAWPC as Iona College of the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) moves over for one year to join the Bucknell, Navy, Fordham University, George Washington University and La Salle University in the Eastern Region.  Gannon University, Mercyhurst University, Salem University, Washington & Jefferson College, McKendree University and newcomer Mount St. Mary’s University plan to compete in the Western Region. 

Fordham (89 points) and George Washington (73 points), which joined the Bison and Midshipmen in not competing during the opening weekend of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition, trade the No. 3 and 4 positions.

Due to Wagner College electing not to compete this year, a pair of newcomers crack the Top Five as La Salle and Gannon share the final spot in the Top Five with 32 points.  Gannon is unique among the sextet of ranked programs as the Golden Knights picked up a victory last weekend by downing first-year program Mount St. Mary’s in non-conference competition.