Just Call It May Madness for Southland Teams

There will be no lack of drama at the collegiate level this weekend, as postseason aspirations or positioning will be on the line for several Southland universities in various sports.

Today, the top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team (21-2) plays host to Western Michigan (17-9) in an NCAA tournament regional at L.A. Tennis Center at 1. The Bruins have been ranked No. 1 since March 9, but that won’t put added pressure on them, according to Coach Billy Martin.

“We’ve lost a couple of times so we’re more down to earth because we know we have a chance to win, but so do many other teams,” Martin said. “There’s more eagerness than nervousness.”

In another match today at L.A. Tennis Center, San Diego State and Tulsa play at 3.

Also today, the No. 17 Pepperdine men (22-7) play New Mexico (12-9) at 10 a.m. in a regional at Tempe, Ariz. The Pepperdine women (23-4) play host in a regional to Boston (15-9) on Saturday at 11 a.m.

The No. 15 USC men (18-4) play Missouri Kansas City (14-4) Saturday at 3 in a regional at Fresno. The No. 10 USC women (18-8) play host to Drake (17-4) Saturday at 2 in a regional at Marks Tennis Center.

The No. 7 UCLA women (17-7) play host to Western Michigan (16-9) in regional at L.A. Tennis Center on Saturday at noon.

Next weekend, the men’s NCAA championships are at Athens, Ga., and the women’s championships are at Gainesville, Fla.

In baseball, No. 16 USC, 31-22 overall and at 15-6 two games out of first place in the Pacific 10 behind Stanford (38-12, 17-4), has a three-game series at home against Washington (31-18, 11-10). Tonight’s game is at 7, with Saturday and Sunday’s games at 1.

UCLA (28-27, 12-9) plays host to Stanford for three games, tonight at 6, and Saturday and Sunday at 1. The Bruins are seeking an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.

Loyola Marymount (29-24, 16-11) holds a two-game lead over Portland (21-16, 14-13) in the West Coast Conference West Division and ends its regular season at home against Santa Clara (19-34, 10-17) with a doubleheader Saturday that starts at noon and a game Sunday at 1. The West Division winner plays Coast Division winner and No. 11 Pepperdine (40-11, 19-8) next weekend for the conference championship.

The NCAA baseball tournament starts May 28.

In softball, No. 1 UCLA (54-5, 21-5) plays a doubleheader against No. 6 Washington (43-16, 14-11) Saturday that starts at 1 at Easton Stadium.

Long Beach State (30-19, 14-7) is a game ahead of Pacific (34-20, 13-8) and Cal State Fullerton (34-24, 13-8) in the Big West and plays host to Cal State Sacramento (27-23, 12-9) in a doubleheader today that starts at 2, and a regular-season finale Saturday at 1.

The NCAA softball tournament starts May 20.