2016 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship

2016 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship

Tournament details
Dates	May 10, 13-15
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	USC Trojans
Runner-up	Stanford Cardinal
Third place	UCLA Bruins
Fourth place	Michigan Wolverines
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Best player	Stephania Haralabidis

The 2016 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was the 16th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate water polo. Tournament matches were played at the UCLA Spieker Aquatics Center in Los Angeles, California from May 13–15, 2016. The USC Trojans defeated the 2015 champions, the Stanford Cardinal, 8-7 to win their fifth national title, while finishing the season 26-0.

Qualification

Since there is only one NCAA championship for women's water polo, all women's water polo programs, whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III, are eligible. For the first time, ten teams participated in the tournament. The automatic qualifiers came from the following conferences: Big West Conference, Collegiate Water Polo Association, Golden Coast Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Western Water Polo Association. Three additional teams were selected at large without geographical restrictions by the selection committee. The four lowest seeded teams played in the two play-in games on Tuesday, May 10.

Play-in games

• Site: RIMAC (UC San Diego), San Diego, California

	Play-in game
	Whittier College		7
	UC San Diego		11

	Play-in game
	San Diego State		7
	Wagner College		4

Tournament bracket

• Site: Spieker Aquatics Center (UCLA), Los Angeles, California

	Fifth place					Consolation semifinals					First round					Championship semifinals					Championship
											UC San Diego		4
											UCLA		17
						UC San Diego		10								UCLA		4
						UC Santa Barbara		5								Stanford		7
											UC Santa Barbara		5
											Stanford		12
	UC San Diego		2																		Stanford		7
	Arizona State		8																		USC		8
											San Diego State		3
											USC		12
	Seventh place					San Diego State		5								USC		9			Third place
						Arizona State		7								Michigan		6
	UC Santa Barbara		8								Arizona State		4								UCLA		5
	San Diego State		2								Michigan		5								Michigan		4

All Tournament Team

TBD

See also

• NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship

Notes

• Game time each day: Noon, 1:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 5:15 p.m. (local time)