The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Seven conferences have teams competing in women's water polo: the Big West Conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conference, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA). Some teams compete at Division III either as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or independently. Teams qualify by either winning their respective conference tournament or receiving one of the few at large bids available. Unlike most NCAA sports, only one National Collegiate championship is held each season with teams from Division I, Division II, and Division III competing together.

The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 135 NCAA team championships, the most of any university. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 48 consecutive years, starting in 1976–77 and continuing through 2023–24. Through January 2024, Stanford athletes have won 552 individual NCAA titles.