The UC Santa Barbara Women’s Water Polo schedule is set for 2024, Head Coach Serela Kay announced Wednesday.

The Gauchos’ season includes five tournament weekends plus 10 standalone matchups before The Big West Championship.
 
Santa Barbara’s campaign will get underway this weekend at home, as they will host their annual Winter Invitational, January 20-21.

The No. 12 Gauchos will open things at 8 a.m. on Saturday, taking on Azusa Pacific. They will take on Whittier at 2:15 Saturday afternoon, then wrap up the weekend with two more matches on Sunday.

The Gauchos will face No. 3 UCLA at 10:30 Sunday morning, then No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer at 2:30 p.m.
 
Every game of the Winter Invitational will be held at Santa Barbara High School. Admission is free and will be open until the venue’s capacity is reached.
 
Santa Barbara will spend the next four weekends on the road at various tournaments across the American Southwest.

On January 27, they will head to Riverside for California Baptist’s Joust, where they will face top-25 opponents San Jose State and Biola.

February begins with a trip to La Jolla to take part in UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational, February 2-4, then a trip to Tempe, Arizona for the ASU Invitational, February 9-11.
 
The Gauchos will return to California for their final tournament before Big West play, heading to the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, hosted by UC Irvine, February 23-25.

The Gauchos’ conference opener comes with a trip to Northern California, with the Gauchos taking on No. 11 UC Davis on March 2.

The next day, March 3, Santa Barbara will visit No. 18 San Jose State for a non-conference matchup.
 
The Gauchos’ first home conference match is set for March 9, when they will host No. 7 Long Beach State at Santa Barbara High School.

As UC Santa Barbara’s calendar flips from winter to spring quarter, the Gauchos will make another quick trip north, taking on Santa Clara and West Valley College in Santa Clara on March 27.
 
The Gauchos will return to Santa Barbara and hit the water again two days later, hosting defending Big West Champions and preseason favorites, No. 5 UC Irvine, on March 29 at Santa Barbara High School.

From there, the Gauchos will alternate road trips and home fixtures for the rest of the season, visiting No. 21 CSUN on April 5, then hosting No. 10 UC San Diego on April 7 at Dos Pueblos High School.

The final week of the regular season will see the Gauchos visit No. 5 Hawai’i on April 13, then host Cal State Fullerton for Senior Day and the regular season finale on April 18, also at Dos Pueblos.
 
The 2024 Big West Championship will be hosted by UC Davis, April 26-28.

The Gauchos were picked to finish sixth in The Big West Preseason Coaches’ Poll, and at No. 12, they are the sixth-highest-ranked team in the conference nationally.