Men's Tennis Earns NCAA Tournament Spot

INDIANAPOLIS -- The UCLA men's tennis team earned a spot in the NCAA Division I Championship draw Monday and begins play at the Austin, Texas regional, the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Subcommittee announced.

The Bruins (14-7, 5-2 Pac-12) take on LSU (16-13, 1-11 SEC) in Friday's opener at the Texas Tennis Center, with first serve scheduled for 8 a.m. PT. Host and No. 2-seed Texas (22-3, 7-0 Big 12) meets Sacramento State (17-6, 7-1 Big Sky) at 11 a.m. PT. Saturday's second-round contest begins at 2 p.m. PT.

UCLA has won all six previous meetings – including two in postseason play – with LSU. The Bruins won the most recent matchup, a 4-2 decision at the 2006 ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Tigers pulled level after dropping the doubles point, but Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Chris Surapol put UCLA back in the driver's seat and Haythem Abid contributed the clinching point.

The winner of each site advances to super-regional competition May 10 or 11. Each super-regional site will feature two teams playing a single-elimination format. The super-regional winners advance to Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla., where the eight teams will compete for the national championship May 16-19.

All matches will be regulation dual matches, consisting of three doubles matches and six singles matches. The first team to collect two doubles victories shall be declared the winner. Likewise, the match will be stopped when the first team reaches the necessary four points to clinch the overall win.