COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : Top Teams to Compete at Irvine
The first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament, beginning today at UC Irvine’s Bren Center, is expected to showcase the nation’s best teams.
All eight teams in the tournament are ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.’s top 10.
The name has changed--the perennially powerful Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. was taken over by the new multi-sport federation before this season--but the important teams have remained.
Top-ranked UCLA (21-3), the Mountain Division champion, will play second-ranked Stanford (18-4), Pacific Division champion, for the federation title at 7 p.m. The winner will receive the federation’s automatic berth to the NCAA final four.
The loser will drop into Friday’s semifinal round of the tournament along with today’s first-round winners. In the first round, Pepperdine (17-5) will play San Diego State (17-12) at 11 a.m., Cal State Northridge (19-9) will play USC (12-9) at 1:30 p.m. and Cal State Long Beach (16-12) will play BYU (15-9) at 4 p.m.
The winner of Saturday’s final will receive the federation’s nomination for the NCAA’s at-large berth to the NCAA final four.
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