UCLA, Pepperdine Playing for Shot at No. 1 Penn St.

Four area teams remain in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, and all will be in action today in the round of 16.

The most important area matchup, and perhaps most intriguing of the tournament, will take place in the Central Regional at Penn State, where UCLA (27-3) faces Pepperdine (26-3) at 2 p.m. PST. The Waves and Bruins are the eighth- and ninth-seeded teams in the tournament, and are playing for a shot at the top-ranked Nittany Lions (32-1) in the regional final.

The Waves defeated the Bruins in five games in the regular-season finale Nov. 23, giving the Waves the higher seeding in the tournament.

The final four will be in Honolulu Dec. 16-18, but defending champion Long Beach State (29-3) will be in paradise a weekend early, facing Colorado State (30-2) in the Mountain Regional at Hawaii at 7 p.m. If the 49ers win and can defeat the winner of Hawaii (29-1) and Texas A&M; (27-5) on Friday, they’ll stay in Honolulu for the week.

UC Santa Barbara (28-5) will get the shortest trip, playing Nebraska (27-5) at Stanford at 5 p.m. in the Pacific Regional.