CSUN Joins Division I for a Day

Daiva Tomkus could not believe that Walt Ker was there to see her. A junior at Chaminade High, Tomkus wanted to play for the Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team but gave herself little chance of making the squad. Then Ker, the CSUN coach, showed up at a match at the West Hills campus to see her play.

“I planned on going to CSUN all along. I was just praying I could make the team,” Tomkus said.

But a funny thing happened to Tomkus on her way to CSUN. The 6-foot, 1-inch middle blocker had a sensational senior season for the Eagles and starred in local club competition.

USC called.

UCLA called.

And Northridge, which 12 months earlier had been the focus of Tomkus’ emotions, was suddenly spiked. Tomkus accepted a full ride to UCLA and last year became the first Bruin to earn All-American honors as a sophomore.

“I had visions of recruiting Daiva when she was a junior in high school, but she just got too darn good,” Ker said Thursday at a joint press conference with the volleyball teams from UCLA and USC at Pauley Pavilion.

The recruiting losses have been numerous for Ker. With three national championships in eight years, his program is the most successful in Division II.

But with only three scholarships divided among 12 to 15 players, Ker has never had enough money to offer to players of Tomkus’ caliber.

That may change. In two years, the Lady Matadors step up to Division I and Ker hopes to take the top recruits away from UCLA and USC.

“I’d like to make postseason play,” Ker said of CSUN’s first season at the Division I level. “I think that’s a lofty goal.”

But, as Ker said, moving to Division I is a “multifaceted challenge.”

To make the playoffs, the Lady Matadors will need to defeat more Division I teams than they’ve ever played . So, CSUN will have to offer as many scholarships as other top Division I programs on the West Coast.

But that is not likely to happen soon, which is why Ker was not the only one who laughed during the conference when he said: “Winning the national championship? We should do that our first year.”

Said Chuck Erbe, who has won four national championships with the Trojans: “If their goal is being competitive within the middle of the pack, they will be. But postseason play? That’s a different matter.”

Ker already has taken steps to bridge the gap. Newly hired assistant coach Tim Koth’s primary responsibility is recruiting, and Ker expects to offer his first full-ride scholarship next season.

“For them to be moving up is great,” Tomkus said. “I would have given CSUN more consideration if they were Division I.”

If CSUN is going to make it to the postseason, Ker and Koth need players to attend rather than just consider.

“A team needs national recognition and most Division II schools don’t have national recognition,” Erbe said.

Ker hopes that the North Campus project--CSUN’s far-reaching development plan that is one day expected to include a new football stadium, basketball-volleyball arena, dormitories and classrooms--will attract top players.

But even if Ker can convince a recruit to visit Northridge, he will still need to fight off the dozens of schools that pursue each top recruit.

“There’s a real echelon in every sport, and in volleyball there are five or six schools that compete against each other for the top 10 to 20 players each year. And after that, there’s a real dogfight for the next 100 to 200 players,” Ker said. “We’re hoping that we can be competitive, initially, for the 100 to 200 players.”

With three Division II titles and four second-place finishes in the past eight years, some wonder how close CSUN is to being a top-notch Division I program.

After all, when CSUN played the University of Hawaii in the Cal Poly Pomona tournament last season, the Lady Matadors led in three of the four games. Hawaii went on to win the match and, a few months later, the Division I national championship.

“I think we have the potential to be in the top 20,” setter Karen Langston said. “We have a lot of good players with a lot of potential.”

But that may be CSUN’s problem. The Lady Matadors are good, but not darn good.