Anteaters play host to 49ers

To the winners go the spoils, and the spoils are nice indeed for the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team.

The Anteaters, ranked No. 1 in the nation, get to play host to the semifinals and final of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, starting Thursday at the Bren Events Center. The winner of the tournament gets the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships set for May 4 and 6 at Penn State.

UCI hasn’t lost since Jan. 27, winning 21 consecutive matches ? including 17 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches ? since losing at Hawaii in three games.

Coach John Speraw’s team (27-3) will meet Long Beach State (22-9) in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m.

UCLA (22-12), which upset Hawaii Saturday night at Hawaii, will meet Pepperdine (17-7) in the other semifinal at 5 p.m.

The two winners will meet in the championship match Saturday night at 7 p.m.