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UC Davis begins its long-awaited move to the CCAA

The days of playing Southern California schools in friendly non-conference games are over.

CCAA's membership Schools in California Collegiate Athletic Association: Sonoma State Chico State UC Davis San Francisco State CSU Stanislaus CSU Bakersfield Cal Poly Pomona CSU Los Angeles CSU San Bernardino UC Riverside CSU Dominguez Hills Grand Canyon College

When UC Davis faces UC Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield or Cal State Dominguez Hills now, a place in the conference standings will be at stake.

UC Davis, welcome to the world of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, where the competition is stiff and the contests are battles.

"I always viewed the CCAA as very strong conference," Davis athletic director Greg Warzecka said. "We're looking forward to playing schools like Bakersfield and Riverside twice a season. It's a chance to establish tremendous rivalries with the those schools and the others in the CCAA."

The CCAA is one of the premier leagues in NCAA Division II. This fall commences its 60th season as Davis and former Northern California Athletic Conference members Cal State Stanislaus, Chico State, San Francisco State and Sonoma State join the eight established members: Cal Poly Pomona, Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State San Bernardino, Riverside, UC San Diego and Grand Canyon College.

The 12-team conference offers championships in 13 sports -- football is not among them -- and gives Davis an opportunity to play in a more competitive league. UC San Diego is an allied member and participates in only cross country and track and field.

The mergers also will result in new schedules for many teams, with fewer nonconference games.

The process for qualifying for NCAA tournaments will not change significantly. Though the teams will play more frequently in Southern California, they will be traveling less frequently to Colorado, Washington and Oregon.

The moves also means that UC Davis will play against teams that also offer scholarships. The NCAC was a league composed of nonscholarships schools. When UC Davis decided to offer scholarships, some NCAC members objected, forcing Davis to look for a new conference.

Davis applied for membership in 1996 and was officially accepted in January 1997. The school will pay an annual membership fee of $18,000. The price tag is higher than the $6,000 the Aggies paid in the old NCAC.

Warzecka said it's worth it.

"This gives us a tremendous vehicle to recruit," he said. "People in the southern part of the state think we're ag nuts or just an agriculture school. Playing in the CCAA means we play in the Los Angeles area a lot, and that gives our school exposure to people who wouldn't have given us a look before."

The competitive level of the CCAA in some sports traditionally has been tougher than in the NCAC. CCAA teams in men's soccer, basketball and women's volleyball are among those perennially competing for national championships in Division II.

The new battles in men's basketball will be particularly fierce. A CCAA team has reached the national title game in five of the last six years, with Bakersfield winning championships in 1993, 1994 and 1997. Davis won this year.

CCAA Commissioner Robert Hiegert said the addition of the five Northern California schools will help the conference become more popular.

"I think we'll get more exposure," he said. "Hopefully, we'll grow from being one of the best-kept secrets on the West Coast to being a household name. If we do that, I think we can gain TV exposure, especially for our championship tournaments events."

The men's and women's soccer teams officially began Davis' move to the CCAA when they hosted Sonoma State on Wednesday. The volleyball team opens conference play Friday at Cal State Los Angeles.