DAVIS, Calif. -- The No. 5 UC Davis men's water polo team makes its ninth postseason appearance on Thursday (Dec. 1), heading to the Spieker Aquatics Complex on the campus of California for the opening rounds of the 2022 NCAA National Collegiate Water Polo Championship. The Aggies, champions of the Western Water Polo Association for the seventh time in the program's history, take on No. 6 Pacific, champions of the Golden Coast Conference, at 3 p.m. in Berkeley.

NEXT UP...
UC DAVIS AT 2022 NATIONAL COLLEGIATE WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIP
Hosted by Cal // Spieker Aquatics Complex // Berkeley, Calif.

OPENING ROUND (Thursday, Dec. 1)
#5 UC Davis (19-7) vs. #6 Pacific (21-6), 3 p.m.
#9 Princeton (27-5) vs. #1 USC (18-6), 5 p.m.

SEMIFINALS (Saturday, Dec. 3)
UC Davis/Pacific vs. #2 Cal (21-2), 2 p.m.
Princeton/USC vs. #3 UCLA (22-4), 4 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP (Sunday, Dec. 4)
Semifinal winners, 3 p.m.

WE'LL DO IT LIVE: For those fans unable to make the trek to Berkeley this week, both of Thursday's opening-round matches will be streamed live at Pac-12.com via the following link: https://pac-12.com/live/university-california-4, with live scoring available HERE.

UC DAVIS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UC Davis is making its ninth all-time postseason appearance in the National Collegiate Championship, previously earning berths in 1974, 1975, 1996, 1997, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021... The Aggies will be making their third straight appearance in the national tournament after opting out of the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic... UC Davis is a combined 5-10 in the NCAA Tournament, finishing third nationally in 1996… The Aggies won their opening round match last season against Long Beach State, before falling to No. 1 USC in the semis.

UC DAVIS AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
1974: CS Fullerton (L, 7-4); Air Force (W, 9-2); Stanford (W, 4-3)
1975: UC Irvine (L, 19-4); Arizona (L, 9-8); Army (W, 20-3)
1996: UCLA (L, 18-6); UMass (W, 11-8)
1997: Pepperdine (L, 13-8); Queens (NY) (L, 5-3)
2016: Harvard (L, 16-15 ot)
2017: Pacific (L, 13-12)
2019: Pepperdine (L, 15-12)
2021: Long Beach State (W, 9-8 ot); USC (L, 11-8)

IN THE RANKINGS: UC Davis stayed at number five in the rankings as the NCAA Tournament features six teams ranked in the top-10, including the top three squads in the nation. USC checks in at No 1, while host Cal follows at two and UCLA checks in at No. 3. Pacific is currently ranked NO.6, while Princeton is ninth.

ABOUT PACIFIC: The Tigers (21-6) enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6-ranked team in the country after winning the Golden Coast Conference championship. The two teams met earlier this season in an epic overtime battle where the Aggies won, 12-11 in sudden death. UC Davis fell to Pacific in the NCAA Tournament in 2017.

AGGIES CLAIM WWPA TITLE: UC Davis claimed its seventh WWPA title in program history after taking down UC San Diego in overtime, 13-12, on Nov. 20. The Ags also took down Fresno Pacific (22-6) and Santa Clara (12-7) en route to the title.

LEYSON NAMED WWPA COACH OF THE YEAR: UC Davis head coach Daniel Leyson was named the 2022 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Coach of the Year. Leyson earns the award for the second consecutive year and for the fifth time overall. The award was determined via a league-wide poll of conference head coaches following the 2022 WWPA Championship. Leyson has also taken home the conference's top coach award in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021.