USC, UCLA, Pepperdine and UC Irvine Open Play Today in NCAA Men’s Tennis

Four Southland teams--USC, UCLA, Pepperdine and UC Irvine--begin play today in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s tennis tournament at the University of Georgia. Irvine will face Arizona State in the round of 16, and USC will meet Southwest Louisiana.

Fourth-seeded Pepperdine will take on Tennessee. And, in possibly the closest round-of-16 match, UCLA goes up against defending champion Georgia in a rematch of last year’s final, which Georgia won, 5-1.

If form holds, it will be top-seeded Stanford against third-seeded USC and second-seeded LSU against Pepperdine in the semifinals.