Stanford Still No. 1 in April 15 Women's National Varsity Polls

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Change came to the April 15 Women's National Varsity Polls as the Stanford University Cardinal remained No. 1 in the Top 20 poll, while California Lutheran University and University of Michigan took over the top spots in the Division III Top 10 and Collegiate Water Polo Association Top 10 polls.

The ranking marks the eighth consecutive week Stanford has held the No. 1 spot in the Varsity Top 20 as the Cardinal took over the top-ranking from the University of Southern California in the February 25 poll.

Overall, the top 11 positions in the poll remain unchanged from the April 8 balloting as University of Southern California, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Hawaii, University of California, San Jose State University, San Diego State University, Arizona State University, University of California-Irvine, University of California-Davis and Loyola Marymount University stayed at No. 2-11.

The first change in the poll is at No. 12 as the University of Michigan moved up after being tied for 13th last week on the heels of a win over No. 7 San Diego State.  Due to Michigan moving up, California State University-Northridge dropped back to No. 13 with California State University-Bakersfield and Hartwick College slipping in at No. 14 and 15, respectively.

Long Beach State University remains at No. 16, Indiana University moved up to No. 17, University of California-Santa Barbara slipped to No. 18, Brown University held at No. 19and Santa Clara University moved back into the Top 20 at No. 20 to round out the poll.

California Lutheran University took over the top spot in the Division III poll to become the third team in three weeks to hold down the No. 1 position.

Cal Lutheran, which was ranked No. 2 in the April 8 poll, moved up in part due to an 11-8 loss by former No. 1 Occidental College to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges last week.  The ranking marks the first time California Lutheran has been No. 1 in the nation since April 23, 2008.

Pomona-Pitzer, which was ranked No. 1 in 14-consecutive polls dating back to April 30, 2008 before Occidental displaced the Sagehens last week, improved from No. 3 in the April 8 poll to No. 2 this week, while Occidental slipped to No. 3.

University of California-Santa Cruz climbed one place to No. 4, University of Redlands jumped two spots to No. 5, California State University-East Bay remained at No. 6, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges dropped three places to No. 7, Chapman College and Whittier College exchanged the No. 8 and 9 positions while Grove City College held onto No. 10.

For the first time since February 25, the University of Michigan ranks No. 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association as the Wolverines edged out Hartwick College by a single point (98-to-97) to return to the top of the league poll.

With no league games last week, the Wolverines moved up based on reputation following a 3-0 weekend at the San Diego State University Aztec Mini-Tournament in which Michigan knocked off then No. 20 UC-San Diego (10-6 W), California Baptist University (11-5 W) and No. 7 San Diego State University (9-8 W OT SD).

Hartwick College, which ranks No. 2 for the first time since taking over the No. 1 ranking in the March 4 poll, Indiana University, Brown University, Bucknell University, University of Maryland, Princeton University, Harvard University, Mercyhurst College and George Washington University round out the Top 10.