May 1, 2006
DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis, which upset Loyola Marymount on Sunday to claim the Western Water Polo Association Championship, is seeded No. 5 and will face No. 4 seed Hawaii on May 12 in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships, being hosted by UC Davis at the Schaal Aquatics Center on May 12-14.
The tournament pairings were announced on Monday evening. The Aggies (20-11) and Hawaii (17-10) will battle at 7:30 p.m. during the tournament's first day of competition. Other first-round games have No. 2 Stanford (22-4) against No. 7 Marist (23-12) at 3 p.m., No. 3 UCLA (26-4) versus No. 6 Hartwick, N.Y. (27-9) at 4:30., and No. 1 USC (25-2) against No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (15-9) at 6 p.m.
Semifinal and consolation bracket play takes place on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. while Sunday's action starts at noon. The championship, which will be televised live by CSTV, begins at 5 p.m. The tournament is single-elimination with bracket play to determine all eight places.
UC Davis captured the WWPA title on Sunday when it upset the tournament's No. 1 seed Loyola Marymount in a narrow 8-7 victory at UC San Diego. The win gave the Aggies an automatic berth into the NCAA championships. This will be UC Davis' first appearance in the tournament since the NCAA started the championships in 2001.
No. 4 seed Hawaii received one of three at-large berths into the tournament. The Rainbow Wahine, who are members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, took second in their conference tournament on Sunday as they fell 6-3 to Stanford in the championship game. Hawaii found its way into the MPSF championship game via a stunning 10-9 upset over the previously undefeated USC Trojans in Saturday's semifinals. This will be Hawaii's second consecutive tournament appearance.
UC Davis holds an all-time record of 5-5 in contests against Hawaii. The last time the two teams met was during the 2005 season at the Stanford Invitational where Hawaii came away with a 9-5 win.
"We are excited to be in the tournament and feel fortunate. Hawaii is going to be a challenging game for us, but we are looking forward to the whole experience of playing in the national championships at our own pool," said head coach Jamey Wright.
Despite failing to capture the MPSF title and corresponding automatic berth into the national championships, USC has received the No. 1 seed into the tournament. The Women of Troy have posted an impressive record of 25-2 this season with their only two losses coming last weekend against Hawaii followed by UCLA in the MPSF's third place game. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, one of five leagues awarded automatic berths.
The defending national champions, UCLA, took third place at the MPSF tournament and has posted a season record 26-4. Hartwick claimed the Collegiate Water Polo Association's automatic berth on Sunday after they defeated Michigan, 11-8 at the conference's eastern championships.
Stanford, who captured the MPSF title on Sunday, has posted a season record of 22-4 this season and were last season's national championships' runners-up. Marist, the winners of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title and automatic bid, currently holds a season record of 23-12.
Tickets for the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships are still available but the event is expected to sell out. Tickets can be purchased by calling the UC Davis Campus Box Office at (530) 752-1915.
