SAN JOSE, Calif. - The fifth seeded San José State Spartans men’s water polo team (14-7, 5-1 WCC) will face the fourth seed Fordham (25-3, 12-0 MAWPC) in the first round of the 2025 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship on Friday, Dec. 5, at 2 p.m. PT from Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, Calif. The game can be streamed live on NCAA.com.
This is the Spartans’ second appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons. Before their qualification in 2023, the Spartans had not made the tournament since 1973.
The Spartans faced Fordham earlier this season, narrowly falling to the Rams 10-9 at the SRAC as part of the Julian Fraser Memorial.
The No. 9 Spartans were crowned 2025 WCC Champions, marking their second conference championship in three seasons. In the conference tournament, SJSU took down Air Force 14-10, No. 10 Pepperdine 13-12 in overtime, and No. 15 Cal Baptist 15-9 in the Championship match.
Brendon Gyapjas was named the WCC Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Gyapjas posted 41 saves and a .569 save percentage across the tournament. Additionally, Gyapjas, Samu Biros and Mateja Bosić were named to the WCC All-Tournament Team. Bosić scored 12 goals across the tournament's three games while Biros scored 10, making them the leading scorers throughout the tournament.
The Spartans finished the regular season with a record of 11-7 and ranked No. 9 nationally. The Spartans were named WCC Co-Regular Season Champions after finishing with a conference record of 5-1. Goalie Gyapjas was named WCC Player of the Year and All-WCC First Team, making him the first Spartan ever to be named WCC Player of the Year. Sam Keightley and Biros were named to the All-WCC Second Team, and Keightley was also named to the All-WCC Freshman Team. Bosic received an All-WCC Honorable Mention.
The winner of the Spartans vs. Rams match will face the winner of the match between the No. 1 seed USC or the No. 8 seed Concordia University Irvine.
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