ORANGE, Calif.— The Chapman University women's water polo program is set to make their third straight SCIAC Tournament appearance, and host Whittier College in round one Tuesday evening at 7 PM. The Panthers clinched the four seed and a victory would punch their ticket to the semi-finals at Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday, April 16. In the lead-up to the game, here are a few keys to look out for: 

Defensive Dominance 
Zoey Francis has been the key to Chapman staying in and dominating almost every single SCIAC game in 2026. The 2025 ACWPC All-American and All-SCIAC Team goalkeeper led the conference in saves with 211 and save percentage at .511. The senior star helped Chapman dominate in the two regular season match-ups against Whittier which included a 13-3 win on Saturday, April 4 and a 15-10 win on February 28. In those two games, Francis had a combined 28 saves. 

Anchors on Offense
One major key to the Panthers muscling their way through SCIAC play is the offensive output of Kendall Pappan and Annie Nadolski. Pappan is the junior anchor of the offense, who had 2.8 goals per game in 2026, good for second in the SCIAC. She also had 3.9 points per game, good for first in the conference. She also tied for first in the conference in scoring with 64 goals, and tied for first for total points with 89. In the last two games against Whittier in 2026, Pappan netted five goals in first game and one goals along with three assists in the second game. For the season, she was also named the SCIAC Athlete of the Week three times. 

Nadolski became a breakthrough star for the Panthers in 2026. The sophomore center has 28 goals on the year so far, along with 29 points, 14 earned exclusions and 12 steals on the year. She has become the anchor in the middle of the pool, who has turned heads within Chapman Athletics. Nadolski has been nominated for the Student Athlete Awards 2026 Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. 

Rising Stars 
Junior Lyric Roddenberry along with sophomores Nina Bastick and Kimie Ginoza will be some of the final pieces to help Chapman in their quest for a first round win. Roddenberry is a junior transfer who ranks second on the team in goals scored with 27 to go along with 33 assists. Bastick also ties Roddenberry with those 27 goals, and has had a late season surge offensively, scoring 11 goals across the last four conference games of 2026. Rounding out the rising stars is Ginoza who ranks seond on the team with 22 steals behind only Pappan, had a well-rounded regular season with 11 earned exclusions, 18 assists and 13 goals. The first time the Panthers played Whittier, Ginoza had career-high three goals.