Established 1981 Division National Collegiate | Association NCAA Members 13 | |
Sports fielded 1 (men's: 1; women's: 1) Region Western United States and Pennsylvania | ||
The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) is a single sport intercollegiate college athletic conference sponsoring men's and women's water polo. The WWPA is affiliated with the NCAA, and includes 12 member institutions, mostly in California, with one institution in Colorado and two in Erie, Pennsylvania; the league's geographic footprint will expand to Illinois in 2017. The league has seven men's teams and six women's teams, with only UC San Diego fielding both men's and women's teams in the WWPA. The two Pennsylvania schools, Gannon and Mercyhurst, also field teams for both men and women, but only the women's teams are in the WWPA, with the men's teams instead playing in the Collegiate Water Polo Association.
The WWPA members play a regular season of conference and non-conference games, followed by a championship tournament at the conclusion of both the men’s and women’s seasons, with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAAs.