The top teams in the three weekly polls remain unchanged as the University of California-Los Angeles, Whittier College and Princeton University top the 2014 Men’s Varsity Week 5/October 8 National Top 20, Division III Top 10 and Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top 10 Polls.
In the National Top 20 rankings, the Bruins of UCLA remain the unanimous top choice for another week with 100 points. Stanford University (95 points), the University of California (90 points), the University of Southern California (86 points) and Long Beach State University (79 points) follow at No. 2-to-5 as the majority of the Top 20 remains unchanged from last week.
Whittier also remains a unanimous top pick as the Poets garnered 100 points to top a dramatically different set of Division III rankings from the October 1 results. Overall, Whittier is one of only two teams to retain its position from last week in the wake of the results from the Gary Troyer Tournament over the weekend.
Similar to the Division III Top 10 poll, the CWPA Top 10 sees the league rankings shift radically from last week as the Tigers of Princeton (99 points) and Brown University (96 points) remain at No. 1 and 2, respectively, with the remaining spots in the Top 10 mostly changing hands following the fifth week of varsity competition.
Voted on by a panel of coaches from the CWPA, 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 are compiled and released on Wednesday during each week of the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.
2014 Men’s Varsity National Top 20 (Week 5)
The University of California-Los Angeles (100 points) remains the unanimous No. 1 selection in the Week 5/October 8 National Top 20 Poll.
UCLA, which moved up to No. 1 two weeks ago in the wake of downing former No. 1-ranked Stanford University by a 9-7 final score, leads a Top 20 in which 13 of the first 15 teams in the rankings retain their spots from the Week 4/October 1 Poll.
Stanford (95 points), the University of California (90 points) and the University of Southern California (86 points) hold on at No. 2-to-4, respectively, while Long Beach State University (79 points) supplants the University of California-Santa Barbara (75 points) for the fifth position.
UCSB falls back to No. 6, with the University of the Pacific (71 points), the University of California-San Diego (65 points), the University of California-Irvine (55 points), Princeton University (54 points), the University of California-Davis (51 points), Pepperdine University (46 points), Brown University (42 points), Santa Clara University (32 points) and the United States Air Force Academy (22 points) retaining their positions at No. 7-to-15.
Due to former No. 16 Whittier College falling to Harvard University over the weekend, the Crimson of Harvard (21 points) and Loyola Marymount University (21 points) move into a tie at No. 16. Whittier (19 points) falls back to No. 18, while Bucknell University (11 points) and St. Francis College Brooklyn (10 points) complete the Top 20.
California Baptist University (6 points), the United States Naval Academy (3 points), Concordia University (3 points) and Chapman University (1 point) also received votes.
2014 Men’s Varsity Division III Top 10 (Week 5)
The Poets of Whittier College (100 points), which are now ranked at No. 18 in the National Top 20 Poll, remain at No. 1 in the Week 5/October 8 National Division III Top 10 Poll.
Whittier, which remains a unanimous top pick, is one of two teams in the Division III Top 10 to retain its ranking from last week as the small college rankings experienced radical shifts in the wake of the results from the Gary Troyer Tournament hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and the University of La Verne.
Behind the Poets, Chapman University (94 points) rises from a No. 9 ranking last week to the runner-up position in the October 8 voting. The University of Redlands (84 points) and former No. 2 Johns Hopkins University (84 points) rate in a tie at No. 3, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (78 points) moves up two places to take over at No. 5.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (76 points) and Pomona-Pitzer (71 points) back up to No. 6 and 7, respectively, while California Lutheran University (67 points) hangs on at No. 8 for another week.
The University of La Verne (53 points) and Washington & Jefferson College (35 points) complete the Top 10.
Connecticut College (33 points) also received votes.
2014 Men’s Varsity CWPA Top 10 (Week 5)
The Tigers of Princeton University continue as the top rated team in the league as the squad picked up 99 points in the Week 5/October 8 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top 10 Poll.
Princeton, which finished second to St. Francis College Brooklyn last season in the CWPA Championship title game and was ranked No. 1 in the wake of the Preseason, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 ballots, tops a league poll which experienced some significant changes this week.
Northern Division frontrunner Brown University (96 points) continues at No. 2 for another week as five of the Top 10 teams retained their positions from the Week 4/October 1 balloting.
Harvard University (86 points) jumps two places to take over at No. 3 with St. Francis Brooklyn (83 points) holding firm at No. 4 for another week.
Bucknell University (82 points) inches up one place to No. 5, while the United States Naval Academy (78 points) slips three places to No. 6 after ranking at No. 3 last week.
Johns Hopkins University (68 points) and George Washington University (72 points) exchange the No. 7 and 8 positions, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (61 points) hangs on at No. 9.
Previously No. 10-ranked Iona College (22 points) acquires company in the final position of the Top 10 as Washington & Jefferson College (22 points) breaks into the poll.
Fordham University (11 points) also received votes.
Water Polo News courtesy of CWPA.
