COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : UCLA Favored in Field of Favorites

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament, which begins this weekend with first-round matches, resembles a national tournament more than one for a conference championship. All eight teams are ranked in the country’s top 11.

Tonight, top-ranked UCLA plays host to No. 11 USC (11-13, 8-11) at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion; No. 2 Hawaii (17-5, 15-4) plays host to No. 9 Cal State Northridge (16-11, 11-8) at 10:30 p.m.; and No. 3 Stanford (18-6, 14-5) plays host to No. 8 Brigham Young (13-7, 12-7) at 7 p.m. On Sunday, No. 5 Santa Barbara (16-8, 14-5) plays host to No. 6 Cal State Long Beach (18-8, 12-7) at 2 p.m.

The semifinals and final will be held next Friday and Saturday on the campus of the highest-seeded team remaining. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA final four May 5-6 at Springfield, Mass.

The top-seeded Bruins, 26-1 overall and 18-0 in the MPSF, have won 42 consecutive regular-season conference matches. Last year, UCLA won the MPSF championship but lost to Penn State in the NCAA final.

Second-seeded Hawaii will have a noisy home-court advantage against seventh-seeded Cal State Northridge. The Rainbows’ 10,031-seat Special Event Arena has sold out for the match.

Third-seeded Stanford is 0-2 this season against sixth-seeded Brigham Young.