USF's men's tennis team plays a pair of home matches this weekend as the Dons play host to Pepperdine Friday at the Olympic Club and Loyola Marymount at the Cal Club on Saturday. Friday's match gets underway at 12:30 p.m. while Saturday's first serve is set for 1:00 p.m.

The Dons bring an overall record of 9-6 and a 2-2 conference ledger into this weekend's play. The Waves, 41^stin the latest ITA rankings, stand 11-8 overall and 3-2 in the West Coast Conference standings and are coming off a loss to 17^th-ranked San Diego on Wednesday. LMU will bring a 9-8 overall mark and a 1-4 conference record into Friday's match at Santa Clara before Saturday's meeting with the Dons. The Lions have won seven of their last nine dual matches following a 4-3 home victory over BYU on March 27.

The Dons dropped both regular season matches against Pepperdine and LMU last season, but upended the Lions 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships.

USF head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida knows the outcome of this weekend's matches will go a long way in determining seedings for the upcoming WCC Championships, as well as possible NCAA Championship postseason ramifications.

"This weekend starts the home match remainder of our season," said head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida. "It is always great to host conference matches because the energy and intensity is always heightened. This weekend we look to play two tough teams that have also had good seasons. Pepperdine and LMU are solid programs and we will need to fight hard to go 2-0 this weekend. All of us are fighting for the top spots in conference play and our goal is to be at the top."

Bernardo Saraiva, the Dons top singles player, will be one to watch this weekend. His overall record for the season is 13-1 and he is undefeated in WCC play with a record of 3-0. He and his partner Nils Skajaa who are ranked No. 47 in the ITA's top 80 poll will also compete against Pepperdine and LMU's No. 1 doubles teams in pursuit to enhance their winning record of 8-2