2024 Big West Women's Water Polo l Schedule | Standings | Stats | 

 What 2 Watch 4 
- Seven of The Big West’s eight institutions will compete in the annual Barbara Kalbus Invitational at the Anteater Aquatic Complex on the campus of UC Irvine this weekend. Cal State Fullerton, Hawai’i, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara compete in the prestigious tournament. CSUN enjoys a week off after going 2-2 in the Bronco Invitational.  

The nation’s top teams, T-No. 1 Stanford, T-No. 1 USC, No. 3 UCLA, and No. 4 California and Big West representee's No. 5 Hawai’i, No. 6 UC Irvine, T-No. 7 Long Beach State, T-No. 7 UC Davis and T-No. 10 UC San Diego are featured in the competitive field.  

LBSU sees itself in Group A against USC, Arizona State and Biola.  

Group B boasts three Big West schools with CSUF, T-No. 7 UC Davis and T-No. 10 UCSD and paired with T-No. 1 Stanford.  

Group C contains the host-site No. 6 UCI alongside the likes of No. 3 UCLA, No. 14 LMU and (RV) Pomona-Pitzer.  

Finally, No. 5 UH and T-No. 18 UCSB are housed in Group D with No. 4 California and No. 17 Indiana to round out the pool of play.  

2025 Barbara Kalbus Invitational Schedule    

 
 Weekly Highlights 
- The Titans went 3-2 at the ASU Invitational last week while Destiny Hernandez led CSUF in points with 11. Hernandez had seven goals and four assists in the week and recorded at least one tally in each of the teams' five games.  

Abigal Schechter shined bright in UCSD’s thrilling over 14th ranked LMU. The sophomore found the back of the net three times with two goals in overtime, and the final counting as the game-winner. With just 14 seconds remaining, Schechter snatched the lead and brought the Triton’s home the win, 13-12. 

Dorottya Telek totaled 21 points during competition in the Bronco Invitational to highlight CSUN last weekend. Overall, the senior amassed 11 goals, 10 assists and 10 steals in five games. Telek sits atop the Big West leaderboard with 65 goals, 26 more than second place (39).  

 Poll Position 
- Seven Big West institutions remain in the Week 5 edition of the CWPA national rankings, with five schools residing in the Top 10 of the rankings.   

The Big West makes back-to-back appearances on the list with No. 5 Hawai’i and No. 6 UC Irvine leading the pack. Both Long Beach State and UC Davis are tied at No. 8 overall while UC San Diego is tied at No. 10 to round out the top half of this week's rankings.  

UC Santa Barbara sits in a tie at No. 18 while CSUN completes Big West representation at No. 22, respectively. 
 

CWPA Rankings

 Big West Stats Leaders
Goals: Dorottya Telek, CSUN, 65 goals
Assists: Anna Pal, CSUN, 38 assists
Points: Dorottya Telek, CSUN, 89 points
Steals: Anna Pal, CSUN, 29 steals
Saves: Annabelle Sherman, Cal State Fullerton, 96 saves
Save Pecentage: Madison Walker, UC Santa Barbara, .625 (60 saves)

Big West Stats

 Big West Weekly Recognition
- UC Irvine's Lauren Hett handled business in the pool and tied the sophomore's career-high in scoring to secure The Big West Women's Water Polo Player of the Week accolade. This is the second weekly distinction of the second-year players career after winning the award on April 3, 2024.  

Hett found the back of the net five times against No. 3 UCLA while also recording a pair of steals. The attacker shot 50 percent at the cage (5-10, 0.500) in the matchup. The Anteaters fell in a tightly contested game versus the third ranked team in the nation. UCI's 15 goals were the most given up by the Bruins since 2023 and accounted as the most points scored in the series for UCI. Currently, Hett leads the 'Eaters in goals (13) and points (16).  

 Preseason Prognostications 
- UC Irvine has narrowly been chosen as the top team in the 2025 Big West women's water polo preseason poll with 44 points and three first-place votes after compiling a 5-2 record in conference play last season.  

Defending conference champion Hawai'i resides in second place with 42 points and a first-place vote. Long Beach State accumulated the most first-place votes (4), but lands right behind UH with 41 points, placing third in the poll.  

UC San Diego sees itself in fourth with 32 points while UC Davis sits at No. 5 with 24 points. 

The sixth and seventh slots were decided by two points as CSUN (18) edges UC Santa Barbara (16). Cal State Fullerton rounds out the 2025 edition of the poll with seven points.  

Coaches around the conference also voted on a seven-person preseason team ahead of the year. Hawai'i and Long Beach State put a pair on the list while CSUN, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego see a student-athlete represent their institutions on the team.  

Senior attacker Bernadette Doyle and Daisy Logtens represent UH on the preseason team. Doyle was named to the ACWPC All-America Second Team and All-Big West First Team a year ago after leading UH in points (27) and assists (13) during conference play and finished first in the league with 49 steals (2.0 per game). The Aukland, New Zealand native was also named the 2024 Big West Championship MVP following a four goal and four steal performance. Logtens logged a spot after leading The Big West in save percentage (.599) and goals against average (7.42), also earning ACWPC All-America Second Team and All-Big West First Team accolades as a freshman. LBSU's duo senior attacker Martina Cardona and junior attacker Elisa Portillo dot the preseason team. Cardona made way on the list after logging 44 tallies and 24 assists in 2024. Portillo placed second on the Beach with 55 goals (sixth in conference) and earned All-Big West Second Team honors.  

Dorottya Telek of CSUN has made the preseason team for the second straight season. The senior center led the conference with 94 goals in 2024, en route to earning All-Big West First Team accolades as a junior.  

Two senior centers round out the 2025 preseason team with Kendall Thomas of UCSD and Nioka Thomas of UCI.  

The Merced, Calif. native managed to score 61 points (50 goals, 11 assists) for the Tritons in 2024 earning All-Big West First Team honors and has been named a preseason honoree in back-to-back seasons. 

Nioka Thomas spent the 2024 season with the Australian National Team but placed second on the Anteaters with 53 goals and posted four goal games seven times in 2023 as a sophomore.  

The first date of Big West women's water polo competition begins on Friday, Jan. 17 in Fullerton, Calif. as the Titans take on Cal State Monterey Bay and Ottawa (Ariz.). Conference play in the pool begins on Saturday, March 1, featuring two games on the slate when UC San Diego visits UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara travels to Long Beach State. Regular season action concludes on Saturday, April 19, a week ahead of the Championship. The full 2025 regular season schedule can be found here.

The 2025 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship will be help at Anteater Aquatics Complex from April 25-27 on the campus of UC Irvine. The winner of the championship will receive the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championship.   

Select regular-season contests are slated for telecast on the ESPN family of networks. Please check ESPN listings for upcoming game schedules and additional information.   

 2024 Honors 
All-America First Team

All-America Second Team

All-America Third Team

All-America Honorable Mention

All-Big West First Team

All-Big West Second Team

After finishing as championship runners-up the last two years, top-seeded Hawai'i sealed the deal and reigned triumphant in the 2024 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship, defeating No. 3 seed Long Beach State the title match, 9-5.  

The Rainbow Wahine would go on and win their quarterfinal matchup over Princeton, 11-6 before bowing out in the semifinal round of the 2024 National Colligate Women's Water Polo Championship versus host-site and No. 3 California. Overall, Big West representative Hawai'i reached the NC Championship's final four for the first time since 2013 and finished at No. 3 in the national polls, the highest placement in program history