Michigan's 2015-16 Schedule Announced
9/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Sept. 16, 2015
• 2015-16 U-M Water Polo Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan water polo team announced its 2015-16 competition schedule today (Wednesday, Sept. 16), with 25 dates on the calendar, including three home weekends.
"We are pretty excited about our schedule," said head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi. "We wanted to play the toughest schedule possible to get ready for the CWPA Championships. We are also really happy to have three weekends where we are playing at home."
The Wolverines will start the season with a trip Nov. 7-8 to Irvine, California, for the USA Water Polo Collegiate Cup, a two-day tournament showcasing the top collegiate women's water polo teams and the USA Water Polo women's senior national team.
"The Collegiate Cup allows us to kind of do a dry run," said Leonardi. "We go through the travel process, and it will be the first experience for our freshmen. It also gives us an opportunity to get film and data on how our fall season has progressed. It will also be important for our student-athletes to see their family and our great support from alumni and friends."
In January, Michigan will be back in action starting with the three-day UCSB Tournament Jan. 22-24 in Santa Barbara, California.
Fans in Ann Arbor will get their first look at U-M's Team 16 at the Michigan Invite Jan. 30-31 at Canham Natatorium. U-M will host Hartwick, Marist, Pacific, San Diego State and UCSB, playing all but Hartwick.
"We had one home game last year, sacrificing to ensure we were playing quality opponents," said Leonardi. "We had a great environment and a lot of fans came out. This year, we are bringing quality opponents from the West Coast, and that is important for us."
The Wolverines will be at the Stanford Invite Feb. 6-7 in Palo Alto, California, and two weekends later will return to California for the Anteater Invite (Feb. 20-21) in Irvine.
Michigan hosts the Wolverine Invite March 5-6 in Ann Arbor. Coming to Ann Arbor will be Bucknell, George Washington, LMU, Long Beach State and UCLA.
After a trip to Tempe, Arizona, for the Arizona State Invite March 19-20, U-M will begin its CWPA league play at Indiana on April 2 in Bloomington.
League play continues on April 9 in Ann Arbor with matches against Princeton and Harvard. The Wolverines then travel to Princeton, New Jersey, the following weekend, April 16-17, to face Bucknell, Hartwick, George Washington and Brown. The CWPA Championship will take place April 29-May 1 in Boston.
The league winner will automatically advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be held May 13-15 in Los Angeles.
