Hanging On: USC, Pomona Pitzer & Michigan Retain No. 1 Rankings in February 18 Women's National Varsity Polls

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Southern California, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and University of Michigan remain a top the women's water polo varsity standings this week as the Trojans, Sagehens and Wolverines are unanimous No. 1 selections in the Varsity Top 20, Division III Top 10 and Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Top 10 polls released by the CWPA league office for the week ending February 15.

USC continued its roll through this week knocking off No. 12 UC-Irvine (13-6 W) and No. 14 Cal State Northridge (14-0 W) to remain undefeated on the season. 

The Trojans, who have been ranked No. 1 since the preseason, are followed in the poll by Stanford University, University of Hawaii and University of California-Los Angeles as the top four teams in the poll remain unchanged from the February 11 poll.

The biggest change occurred at No. 5 as the University of California climbed one place to take over possession of the final spot in the Top Five displacing San Diego State University which slipped to No. 6.  SDSU's one spot drop came about as UCLA downed the Aztecs 14-7, while the Golden Bears captured a 9-4 win over San Jose State University in both teams only action of the week.

San Jose's loss to California coupled with a 4-0 weekend by the University of California-Davis broke a tie for seventh from the February 11 poll as UC-Davis claimed sole possession of the spot and SJSU dropped back to No. 8. 

The No. 11-20 positions experienced relatively few changes as No. 9-12 did not change this week as Loyola Marymount University, Arizona State University, Michigan, and University of California-Irvine held firm.

Long Beach State University moved ahead of California State University-Northridge to take over No. 13 place, while Hartwick College, University of California-San Diego, California State University-Bakersfield and Indiana Univeristy remained at No. 15-18.

University of California-Santa Barbara moved up one place to No. 19 and Brown University broke into the Top 20 after being unranked last week as the Bears round out the poll in the final position.

Only one team dropped out of the poll this week as former No. 19 Princeton University failed to receive a vote.

In the Division III poll, Pomona-Pitzer remains a unanimous No. 1 selection as the rankings experienced only two changes.  University of California-Santa Cruz edged out Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for No. 6 and Grove City College broke into the Top 10 at No. 10 displacing University of LaVerne.

University of Michigan remains a unanimous No. selection 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings.  The Wolverines are followed by Hartwick College and Indiana University for another week, while University of Maryland and Brown University climbed to No. 4 and 5, respectively, in the wake of Maryland's 11-9 win over Princeton University last week.

Princeton, which was ranked No. 4 last week, slipped to No. 6, while Bucknell University, Harvard University, George Washington University and Gannon University remained at No. 7-10.