MWPA Announces Week 6 Girls Top Ten

The Michigan Water Polo Association (MWPA) has announced their week 6 girls top ten rankings.

A full breakdown of the week that was is below.

#1 East Grand Rapids Pioneers

The Feast continues for the Pioneers as they outscored East Kentwood and #4 Rockford 21-3 in route to a District 2 Championship. Justin Hulsebus' Pioneers are a perfect 19-0, they're 10-0 against ranked teams, 15-0 against the West, and have drawn the upstart Grand Haven Buccaneers in the Regional Quarterfinals, who held Hudsonville to a 3-1 game at the half of the District Semi-Finals.

#2 Hudsonville Eagles

Ian Hewett's Eagles won the district 1 championship but by no means was it easy. Grand Haven gave the Eagles a bit of a ride into the half before Hudsonville turned on the Jets for an 8-1 win. In the fourth quarter of the district championship game, current #3 Grandville had them deadlocked at 6-6 before the Eagles got a pair of big late goals to win it. They've drawn the East Kentwood Falcons for the chance to go back to the state tournament and defend their three consecutive titles.

#3 Grandville Bulldogs

The Bulldogs roared out of the gates in the District Quarterfinals and semi-finals, taking out Portage 16-2 and #7 Zeeland 8-2 to march to the District Championship game. Mitch Fountain's Bulldogs had an early 3-1 lead but the Eagles experience proved to great for this to be the Bulldogs' day as they fell 8-6. Grandville appears to be playing their best of late, which will be key as they take on an extremely talented Hotel/Okemos squad in their bid to return to the state tournament. They have the most wins in the state (22) and are 9-6 in games vs. Top Ten opponents, with their only losses coming to teams ranked inside the top 3.

#4 Rockford Rams

The Rams cruised past Mason but met the aforementioned Hotel/Okemos Co-Op in a game that came down to the final possession in the District Semi-Finals. Rockford ultimately got the 8-7 win, but #1 East Grand Rapids proved to be too much for the Rams in an 11-3 EGR victory for the District Championship. Katie Clarin's Rockford squad owns the state's second most wins (21) and are an impressive 10-4 against ranked opponents this season and 19-4 against West Side opponents as they draw #7 ranked Zeeland in the Regional Quarterfinals.

#5 Ann Arbor Huron River Rats

The River Rats were in full control at the District 4 championship. They shutout the Chelsea Bulldogs 16-0 in the semi-final and rolled past Ann Arbor Skyline 9-2 in the District Championship for the top seed in the East Regional. At 14-3, Mary Chatigny's River Rats will take on a Walled Lake team that has played better of late, and did score 28 goals in three district tournament games this past weekend for the right to go back to the state tournament.

#6 Hotel/Okemos Co-Op

In the challenging District 2, Hotel/Okemos took an 8-7 loss to Rockford in the semi-finals. The sting didn't seem to last too long, they recovered nicely for a third place game victory to avoid the District 1 champion at regionals over East Kentwood. The Hotel/Okemos Co-Op is starting to show their extraordinary talent at the right time. Madi Zink's squad will play the #3 ranked Grandville Bulldogs in a bid for the state tournament on Friday. They sit at 11-5 on the year and 8-4 against west region teams.

#7 Zeeland Dux

Zeeland managed to cruise to the District semi-finals but ran into a hot #3 Grandville squad where they fell 8-2 in the semi-final. It set Dave Vruggink's Zee's up for a date withe an upset-minded Grand Haven squad, but Zeeland managed a 12-7 win over the Buccaneers to avoid taking on #1 East Grand Rapids in the first round of regionals. Now Zeeland will get the #4 ranked Rockford Rams in the regional quarterfinal, whom Zeeland forced into overtime a few short weeks ago.

#8 Ann Arbor Skyline Eagles

The Eagles scored a HUGE win when they took down second seeded Saline 10-3 in the District semi-finals to avenge their district seed game, where Saline forced overtime with a pair of goals in the final minute before winning it. Rebecca Godek's Eagles secured a top-two spot coming into regionals with the win, and get Grand Blanc who fell 3-2 in a heartbreaker to Birmingham Groves in the District semi-finals. Of note, the Eagles have lost 11 games this season. They have not lost a single game to an unranked team.

#9 Saline Hornets

The Hornets had a tough day at the office in the district semi-final when they fell to Ann arbor Skyline, but quickly rebounded to dampen upstart Chelsea in the third place game with a 21-5 win over Chelsea. Nathan Barnett's Hornets get the Birmingham Groves Gators who snuck by Grand Blanc in the semi-final and fell 11-8 to Birmingham Seaholm in the District 3 championship game. The Hornets are 2-6 this season against top ten foes, and all of their losses have come to top ten teams.

#10 Birmingham Seaholm Maples

It was a bit of a momentum booster week for the Maples who ground out a win over rival Birmingham Groves in the District Championship despite losing a few players to foul trouble late. Seaholm woke up for the Groves game after a bit of a sleepy start that saw Walled Lake score 10 times in the District semi-finals. Nonetheless, Birmingham Seaholm is 12-1-1 with a District Championship in hand, but the task gets no easier. Kellie Howe's Maples are trying to get back to the state tournament for the first time in a long time and they have to take on a the tournament's Cinderella, the Chelsea Bulldogs, who won their first ever postseason game in the third sudden death overtime last weekend.

On the line: Grand Haven, Chelsea, Birmingham Groves

What is "On The Line?": The first three teams outside the MWPA Poll in terms of percentage points - listed for context.

Understanding the Poll: The poll, open to all MWPA Head Coaches, is ranked via a point-percentage scoring model. The points column is percentage of points scored by voters against the maximum total, which is based on number of voters. The period that would signify percentage has been dropped off the beginning of each number.

Unanimous first place ranking nets a score of 1,000 points.

Coaches vote weekly during the season. Polls will be updated Monday's during the mid day. Inquiries on the poll can be directed to the chat feature on the MWPA website. Answering times may vary.