MPSF volleyball seeds shaping up

With the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball regular season concluding this weekend, nine teams are still jostling seeding in next week's eight-team MPSF Tournament.

Below are the nine Mountain Pacific hopefuls, their league and overall records, national ranking, remaining matches and an accompanying note on each's postseason outlook.

1. Pepperdine (23-1, 19-1 MPSF), ranked No. 1

REMAINING: late Thursday vs. CS Northridge, Saturday vs. UC Santa Barbara.

POSTSEASON: The Waves have clinched the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and the right to host the MPSF semifinals and finals.

2. BYU (20-5, 16-4 MPSF), ranked No. 2

REMAINING: tonight and Saturday at Pacific.

POSTSEASON: Needs either one victory or one UC Irvine loss to clinch the No. 2 tournament seed. The second seed hosts a first-round match against the play-in winner between the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds — Northridge and USC.

3. UC Irvine (22-5, 15-5 MPSF), ranked No. 3

REMAINING: Friday vs. Long Beach State, Saturday at UC San Diego.

POSTSEASON: Likely the No. 3 seed; can reach No. 2 if Anteaters win both their matches and BYU loses both its matches. The third seed hosts a first-round match against the No. 6 seed — likely Hawaii.

4. UC Santa Barbara (19-10, 14-7 MPSF), ranked No. 5

REMAINING: Saturday at Pepperdine.

POSTSEASON: The Gauchos have clinched the No. 4 seed and will face fifth-seeded UCLA in next weekend's first round.

5. UCLA (18-10, 12-9 MPSF), ranked No. 4

REMAINING: Friday at UC San Diego

POSTSEASON: The defending NCAA champion Bruins are set at No. 5 and will open the league tournament at UCSB next weekend.

6. CS Northridge (16-13, 10-10 MPSF), ranked No. 8

REMAINING: late Thursday at Pepperdine, Saturday at USC

POSTSEASON: One win and the Matadors are in the MPSF tournament — and that should come Saturday at USC's expense. But CSUN will likely drop to the No. 7 seed and the early week play-in match against the No. 8 seed.

7. Hawaii (11-13, 9-11 MPSF), ranked No. 10

REMAINING: tonight and Saturday vs. Stanford