Resurgent Cougars greet UCSD spikers

PROVO — With an eye on the No. 2 seed in this month's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball tournament, third-ranked BYU concludes its 2007 regular-season home schedule with a pair of weekend matches against UC San Diego.

BYU (18-5 overall, 14-4 MPSF) faces UCSD (5-19, 2-16 MPSF) at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

On opposite ends of the MPSF spectrum, the Cougars have clinched a tournament berth and just percentage points out of second place, while the Tritons have no postseason hopes and are tied with Stanford at the bottom of the 12-team standings.

BYU swept Long Beach State in two home matches last week, while UCSD watched its losing skid balloon to nine with two losses to Hawaii.

With top-ranked Pepperdine (21-1, 17-1 MPSF) riding a school-record 18-victory streak, the Waves are one victory away from clinching the tournament's No. 1 seed, which affords a first-round bye and semifinal and final hosting privileges. Pepperdine travels to Stanford Friday and to 11th-ranked Pacific Saturday.

Second-ranked UC Irvine (22-4, 15-4 MPSF) is a half-game ahead of BYU in the standings, but the Cougars hold the tiebreaker over the Anteaters if the two share second. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition — the two split a pair of earlier matches in Provo — but BYU's advantage is in games won (a 5-3 margin, with BYU winning the first 3-0 but losing the second 3-2).

The tiebreaker may seem meaningless since the two would likely meet in the MPSF semifinals no matter who is second and who is third. However, the difference comes in the opening round — the No. 2 seed faces the winner of the Nos. 7-8 play-in match, while No. 3 meets a sixth-seeded opponent.

BYU controls its own fortune — the Cougars claim the No. 2 seed by sweeping UCSD this weekend and winning their two final regular-season matches at Pacific next weekend, no matter what Irvine does.

UCI has only one match this weekend, a Friday date against defending champion and fourth-ranked UCLA (15-10, 10-9 MSPF). The Bruins currently are tied for fifth in the standings with seventh-ranked CS Northridge (16-12, 10-9 MPSF), while fifth-ranked UC Santa Barbara (17-10, 12-7 MSPF) is two games up in fourth place.

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