The top six teams in the nation held their position in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Top 25 poll after opening weekend.
Defending champions USC went 6-0 at the UCSB Winter Invitational, including wins over then #9 Michigan (9-2), #13 Indiana (11-1), #15 UC San Diego (13-4) and #24 Cal Baptist (25-5).
Stanford, UCLA, Cal and Arizona State round out the top five, followed by UC Irvine, which edged past Hawaii this week after tying for sixth in the preseason poll.
Stanford and Cal were idle on opening weekend, while UCLA went 5-0 at the UCSB Winter Invite, topping #6 UC Irvine (10-6), #9 Michigan (9-7), #17 UCSB (6-4), #18 Cal State Northridge (10-6) and #24 Cal Baptist (17-8).
Arizona State won its lone match of the season, topping Marist 16-8 on Jan. 12.
Azusa Pacific claimed a spot in the Top 25 at #25 after besting #14 Wagner (7-5). The Cougars dropped their other three matches against #1 USC (19-4), #15 UC San Diego (13-5) and #18 Cal State Northridge (15-13).
The biggest movers of the week were the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, the San Jose State Spartans and the Fresno State Bulldogs.
Fresno State climbed from the ranks of the vote getters to #17 with a 1-2 mark in Santa Barbara. After losses to #16 UCSB (15-5) and #1 USC (19-3), the Bulldogs upsets then #13 Indiana (12-7) before ending the tournament with an 11-6 loss to #9 Michigan.
UCSB vaulted up seven spots from 17 to 10 with a 4-1 record at home, including three Top 25 victories. The Gauchos started the year with wins over #24 Cal Baptist (14-4), Fresno State (15-5), #13 Indiana (15-5) and #14 Wagner (9-4) before falling to UCLA (6-4).
SJSU won its lone match of the weekend, stunning then #10 UC Davis 12-9 at the Aggie Invitational, marking the program’s first Top 10 win in its last 20 tries. The victory propelled the Spartans from 20 to 14.
On the opposite end of the spectrum were Indiana and UC San Diego, which dropped from 13 to 18 and from 15 to 21 respectively. The Hoosiers went 1-3 with its lone win coming against the Tritons, while UCSD posted a 1-3 record, besting only Azusa Pacific.
2019 Collegiate Water Polo Association Varsity National Top 25 Poll (1/23/19)
| Rank | Team | Points | Preseason 2019 |
| 1 | USC | 100 | 1 |
| 2 | Stanford | 96 | 2 |
| 3 | UCLA | 92 | 3 |
| 4 | Cal | 88 | 4 |
| 5 | Arizona State | 81 | 5 |
| 6 | UC Irvine | 80 | T6 |
| 7 | Hawaii | 78 | T6 |
| 8 | Pacific | 71 | 8 |
| 9 | Michigan | 70 | 9 |
| 10 | UC Santa Barbara | 60 | 17 |
| 11 | Long Beach State | 58 | 11 |
| 12 | Princeton | 53 | 12 |
| 13 | UC Davis | 52 | 10 |
| 14 | San Jose State | 46 | 20 |
| 15 | Loyola Marymount | 42 | 16 |
| 16 | Wagner | 31 | 14 |
| 17 | Fresno State | 30 | RV |
| 18 | Indiana | 26 | 13 |
| 19 | Harvard | 26 | 21 |
| 20 | Marist | 23 | 22 |
| 21 | UC San Diego | 22 | 15 |
| 22 | San Diego State | 20 | 19 |
| 23 | Cal State Northridge | 20 | 18 |
| 24 | Cal Baptist | 16 | 24 |
| 25 | Azusa Pacific | 13 | NR |
| RV | Bucknell | 4 | 23 |
| RV | Brown | 2 | 25 |
| RV | Iona | 2 | RV |
| RV | California State -East Bay | 1 | RV |
