Women's Water Polo earned the 12th and final CCCAA Regional Playoff seed and faced #7 Riverside in the first round of the playoffs. The Tigers, who Cuesta has never beaten in 23 years, jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Riverside also scored the first goal in the second half and maintained their double-digit lead for the duration for the win, 18-8. Despite the loss, the fact that the 12th-seeded Cougars, who finished 3rd in the Western State Conference, reached the playoffs was accomplishment enough for the all-freshman squad. First-year Head Coach Rachel Gruetzmacher is the program's fourth Coach since 2020 and did not arrive on campus until late in the pre-season, yet still she guided her old program, which was three years removed from its last post-season or even a full season, to the playoffs as the 3rd place team in the conference. The game, despite the lopsided score, did contain a few highlights for Gruetzmacher and her Cougars. Returning Freshman Anna Kreowski scored four goals in the game to raise her State-leading total to 142 tallies for the season, which also surpassed the Cuesta Men's Water Polo mark of 139 set in 1987 by Kelly Porter, the father of her teammate Chloe Porter. The younger Porter didn't score against Riverside but did dish out a game-high four assists, drew seven exclusions and added three steals. Porter finished her season second on the team with 61 goals (31st in the State), while leading the team with 54 assists (6th in the State) and 76 Exclusions Drawn (1st in the State). Porter also landed in the State's Top 50 with 40 steals, but she was second on her team behind teammate Ryan Rascon's (pict) 46 thefts. The Cougars ended the season 14-15 overall.
Note- All State and All-Conference Awards shall be announced at the conclusion of the playoffs
