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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University tennis teams have landed in Southern California and now hit the courts this weekend for the first and second rounds of the 2012 NCAA tennis championships. The EKU women will take on host UCLA on Friday at 4 p.m. ET while the Colonel men are lined up against UCLA on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. ET.

The Eastern Kentucky women (18-6) are making their second appearance in the NCAA tournament (2012, 2009). In 2009, the Colonels faced No. 16 Fresno State in a neutral-site match in Urbana, Ill. The Bulldogs went on to win that match, 4-0.

This year, EKU faces the No. 1 overall seed in the 64-team field in UCLA. The Bruins (21-2) have won one national title (2008), but this is the first time they have been the top seed in the bracket.

Eastern’s line-up features four freshmen and two sophomores. Amandine Faouzi played at the No. 1 spot the entire spring and earned OVC Freshman of the Year accolades thanks to her 16-7 singles record and 8-1 OVC mark. Fellow freshman Kristina Labeja led all EKU players with 18 singles victories while playing mainly at the No. 2 position.

The winner of the EKU-UCLA match will face the winner of the Arkansas-Long Beach State contest on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

The Eastern Kentucky men (19-9) are making their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament. The Colonels took on No. 16 North Carolina in 2011 and No. 15 Louisville in 2010. Eastern’s senior class, which features six players who see action in singles and/or doubles, has won the OVC regular season or tournament title each of the last four years.

The UCLA (22-3) men were seeded No. 4 overall in this year’s championship draw after winning the Pac-12 regular season title. The Bruins have won 16 men’s tennis national titles with the most recent coming in 2005.

Senior Hugo Klientovsky headlines the men’s roster. EKU’s top player claimed All-OVC first team honors for the third consecutive year thanks to posting a 19-7 singles record this spring. Klientovsky’s lone OVC loss came against Austin Peay’s Sean Bailey, who went on to take the men’s OVC Player of the Year award. The native of Colombe, France nearly beat the No. 1 ranked player in the country in March before falling to Virginia’s Mitchell Frank in three tight sets, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

The winner of the EKU-UCLA men’s match will face the winner of the San Diego-Fresno State contest on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

First and second round competition will be conducted Friday-Sunday, May 11-13, at 16 different regional sites with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Tennis Team Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., May 17-22.