NCAA VOLLEYBALL : UCLA, USC, CS Long Beach Begin Tournament at Home

UCLA, the two-time defending NCAA women’s volleyball champion, will play host to Ball State on Friday in an opening-round match of the NCAA playoffs.

Ball State (22-9) won the Mid-American Conference this season.

UCLA (29-0), the No. 1-seeded team in the West region, is one of four teams from the Southland to qualify for the 32-team tournament, which will hold first-round matches Thursday through Saturday.

The others are Cal State Long Beach (27-2), which lost to UCLA in the final of the NCAA tournament last year, USC (20-8) and Cal State Northridge (27-7).

Long Beach will play host to Arkansas State (41-5), the Sun Belt Conference champion, in a Northwest region match Friday.

USC will play host to Northridge in a West region opener on Saturday.

Northridge, a three-time NCAA Division II champion, is making its first appearance in the Division I tournament.