Water Polo to compete in NCAA tournament

The IU water polo team is one of 10 teams to compete in the NCAA tournament, which starts this weekend.

The Hoosiers (22-5) earned a No. 8 seed and will play the No. 9 seed Wagner (25-11) on Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington.

The top six teams of the tournament essentially receive byes during the first round, with IU being one of the four teams that has to play its way to the championships, which will take place in Los Angeles from May 9-11.

The winner of the IU–Wagner match goes on to play the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Stanford (22-1).

IU was awarded an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament because they won their conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association.

The Hoosiers finished the year 14-0 in conference play and defeated Princeton 11-10 in the CWPA conference championship to advance to the NCAA tournament.

The cream and crimson are currently riding an 11-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s first round matchup with Wagner.

Of the 10 teams in the tournament, seven are from California.

IU and Wagner, which is located in Staten Island, N.Y., are the only schools participating in the tournament located east of the Mississippi River.


Evan Hoopfer