In light of their 19-11 record last year, the now-No. 15 Michigan women’s water polo team came into 2026 with their heads held high, looking to start the new season strong.
The Wolverines (0-1) traveled to the West Coast Friday, taking on Fresno State (0-1) in their first match of the 2026 Polopalooza Tournament. They had ample opportunity to set the tone for their upcoming season, but failed to stay consistent and couldn’t overcome the strong energy of the Bulldogs, ultimately losing the match 11-9.
With Friday’s match being Michigan’s first of the tournament, it hoped to make an impression, but Fresno State’s physicality took it by surprise. The Wolverines couldn’t seem to match the intensity of their opponent and struggled to carry out organized plays at crucial moments during the game.
“Since I’ve come to start coaching women again, we kind of have to see it before we believe it,” Michigan coach Cassie Churnside said. “In practice, (the coaches are) seeing every single day this high level of play, and these girls just have to start getting it consistently.”
The match initially looked promising for the Wolverines as sophomore center Abby Schulz found the back of the net within the first minute of the game. The Bulldogs, however, retaliated almost immediately, countering with a strong offensive attack that secured them three goals by the end of the first quarter.
Fresno State started the second quarter with the same energy, scoring yet another goal after just 40 seconds. About a minute later, Churnside called a timeout to reorganize her team. The Michigan coach spent the timeout making sure each player was optimizing their individual performance rather than trying to spread themselves too thin and become a “hero.”
“We had dug ourselves in a pretty significant hole in my mind with the first quarter,” Churnside said. “I was like, ‘Are we going to make this a game, or are we just going to turn over and give up?’ and the girls, they made it a game.”
Following this short break, the Wolverines reentered the pool with a newfound ambition, and within just two minutes, they’d managed three more goals, evening the score, 4-4. This hope was incredibly short-lived though, and once the Bulldogs organized two more successful counter-attacks, the previous momentum was entirely lost.
The third quarter saw more persistence from Fresno State and more mistakes from Michigan. The Wolverines created some goal-scoring opportunities, and were successful with a few, but they were simultaneously ceding goals more frequently, giving up possession, and struggling with timing issues. Even more so, the game became more physical, and that intensity paired with very low visibility in the outdoor pool made for an especially agitated set of teams and coaches. The quarter ended with the Bulldogs up 10-6 as Michigan continued to struggle piecing things together consistently.
In the last quarter of the game, the Wolverines gradually started to find their footing, but it was only once the game was about to close when they adjusted their pacing during plays and took a more intentional approach. They managed to narrow the scoring disparity, but their earlier mistakes were too prominent to turn the game around completely, and the match ended 11-9.
“It’s a big learning curve for them to see things we might have been casual about in practice, we can no longer be casual about,” Churnside said. “… (But) I’m very excited for what’s to come and to see these girls step up.”
Ultimately, the result of Friday’s match came down to inconsistencies in Michigan’s play and its difficulty staying organized during the match. The Wolverines combined effort in their moments of clarity helped them find some wins here and there, but they lacked the discipline necessary to emerge victorious in the end.
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