Twenty teams to battle for women’s regional water polo supremacy

Regional Brackets 
NorCal l SoCal

SANTA CRUZ – Twenty teams, 12 in the south and eight in the north, will take to the water this weekend in pursuit of women’s water polo regional titles at Merced College (Northern California) and Southwestern College (Southern California). Both regions boast new-look brackets, especially in the south.

The south again features a team – No. 1 Long Beach City - looking for a chance to repeat as 3C2A champions. The Vikings denied No. 2 Santa Barbara City a three-peat in 2024, but both squads must get through a gauntlet of top teams to advance to the state championship tourney in Merced in two weeks.

Three new teams – No. 9 LA Valley, No. 10 Crafton Hills and No. 11 Palomar – join eight returners in 2025. No. 3 Orange Coast, No. 4 Riverside City, No. 5 Golden West, No. 6 Cuesta, No. 7 Saddleback, No. 8 Fullerton and No. 12 San Diego Miramar are back and round out the bracket.

The four Friday games are all inter-conference, with Fullerton (16-14) battling LA Valley (17-6) in the opener, followed by Golden West (18-10) vs. San Diego Miramar (14-11), Saddleback (14-16) against Crafton Hills (13-8) and Cuesta (21-10) vs. Palomar (16-8).

Long Beach City (34-2) battles the Fullerton/LA Valley winner to open Friday, Riverside (21-9) will take on the Golden West/SD Miramar victor, Santa Barbara City (30-7) takes on the Saddleback/Crafton Hills winner, and Orange Coast will face off against the winner of the Cuesta/Palomar contest.

Saturday’s semifinals are at 11 a.m. and 12:15  p.m., followed by the third-place game at 4:30 p.m. and the title tilt at 6 p.m.

All eight teams in the north were in the 2024 regional at Las Positas, but only No. 1 Sierra and No. 3 San Joaquin Delta occupy the same seeding spots. American River is the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 4 Diablo Valley, No. 5 Merced, No. 6 Fresno City, No. 7 West Valley and No. 8 Modesto.

Friday features Big 8 Conference battles between Sierra (14-6) and Modesto (4-20) at 11:40 and San Joaquin Delta (16-15) vs. Fresno City (9-10) at 2:20. In between Diablo Valley (12-7) battles Merced (16-11). American River (15-8) against West Valley (7-18) closes out day-one.

Saturday semifinals are slated for 11:40 a.m. and 1 p.m., followed by the third-place game at 4 p.m. and the championship clash at 7 p.m.

For complete regional tournament information, including brackets, tickets and lodging, visit the 3C2A website here.

(Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA)