The UC Santa Barbara men's and Long Beach State women's tennis teams open with matches at local venues when the NCAA Championships begin on May 9-10.
The Gauchos are headed to the campus of Pepperdine University and Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, where they are matched up against 22nd-ranked Stanford on Saturday, May 10 at 2:00 p.m. The host Waves face Hawai'i at 11:00 a.m.
UCSB, ranked No. 58 in the country, won the Big West Tournament championship last weekend in Indian Wells after defeating Cal Poly and Pacific. It was the program's third consecutive championship, fifth in the last six seasons, and seventh overall. The title ensured UCSB's the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, marking the eighth time in school history that the Gauchos are competing in the national tournament. Previous NCAA appearances occurred in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.
The Gauchos are 15-9 on the season and square off against a Cardinal squad that is 12-8. The two first round winners will play each other in a second round matchup on Sunday, May 11 at 1:00 p.m.
Long Beach State makes the short trek up the 405 Freeway to play in the postseason on the UCLA campus for the third time in school history. The No. 41-ranked 49ers drew No. 28-ranked Denver as their first round opponent at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 9. The host Bruins face Buffalo at 1:00 p.m.
The 49ers are making their fifth straight NCAA Championship appearance, as well as their sixth in the last seventh years. LBSU captured its fifth straight Big West Tournament title last weekend in Indian Wells with sweeps of UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine by identical 4-0 scores. The 49ers reached the second round in 2006 when they defeated New Mexico in the first round at USC.
If the 49ers win, they will play on Saturday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m. against either UCLA or Buffalo in second round action.
LBSU is 19-6 overall and 8-0 in Big West matches, sweeping through regular season conference play for the second time in the last three seasons.