The No. 11 Stanford men’s volleyball team will pay tribute to its seniors this weekend as the Cardinal wraps up conference play at home. Tonight Stanford takes on No. 6 UCLA while tomorrow’s Senior Night will feature a match against No. 7 UC-Irvine.

Outside hitters Matt Ceran and Jesse Meredith will play at home for the last time this weekend before the MPSF conference tournament begins next weekend. Ceran is second on the team in kills in his senior season and third in the Stanford record books in career kills and career digs and fifth in career digs in the rally-scoring era.

“Their experience, especially in practice late in the season, has motivated and inspired the younger guys to keep getting better,” head coach John Kosty said of his seniors. “That has put us in the position where we are able to control our own destiny in the playoffs.”

Coming into the final week of conference play, the Cardinal has clinched a spot in the eight-team MPSF tournament and is currently in a three-way tie for sixth place with Irvine and No. 10 USC. Depending on this weekend’s outcomes around the league, the Cardinal could conceivably finish anywhere from fourth to eighth, while No. 4 Long Beach State, No. 2 Brigham Young and No. 3 Cal State-Northridge battle for the top spot.

“We are really excited to be back in the playoffs,” Kosty said. “The program is on track and we are doing exactly what we need to do to compete nationally and in the MPSF. It is great to be back.”

With a record of 15-10 overall and an even 10-10 in conference, the Cardinal hopes to finish strong against UCLA (16-12, 11-9) and Irvine (14-13, 10-10).

“We are looking to get back on a winning streak,” Kosty said. “We clinched a playoff position and achieved one of our goals, but not our top goal. We are still looking forward and looking to improve. We know how tough the MPSF playoffs will be.

“If we want to get to the Final Four, we will need to go through some tough opponents, starting with this weekend,” Kosty added.

The Cardinal opened its conference season with the same teams it will face tonight and tomorrow, losing to UCLA in four games and then beating Irvine, also in four. Stanford also beat Irvine in five games in a preseason tournament.

“We are a much-improved team since the second week of January,” Kosty said. “We are more consistent and are playing at a much higher level, but so is the entire league.”

Last weekend, the Bruins beat No. 14 UC-Santa Barbara in four games before being swept by Northridge.

Garrett Muagututia is the Bruins’ offensive leader with four kills per game, while Sean O’Malley chips in 3.6 per game. Muagututia is also the team’s top server with 25 aces and is second only to libero Tony Ker in digs. Jamie Diefenbach anchors the UCLA net defense with 99 blocks on the season.

“UCLA seems to have settled on a starting lineup and they are playing very good volleyball, better than their record indicates,” Kosty said.

In the January match, sophomore outside hitter Evan Romero had a match-high 22 kills for Stanford while Muagututia led the Bruins with 15. UCLA outblocked Stanford 15-6 in that match, behind seven each for Diefenbach and Weston Dunlap.

Irvine comes to Stanford off of two straight wins over Northridge and Santa Barbara, in four and three games, respectively. Opposite Jon Stellar was named AVCA National Player of the Week after his 27-kill, seven-block performance against Northridge and 15 kills against the Gauchos.

“He is their opposite hitter and on any team the opposite is usually the most important player, getting the majority of sets, especially in point-scoring situations,” Kosty said of Stellar. “We did not play against him earlier, we just saw a little bit of him, but he is a starter now and playing well and we will need to respect that.”

Stellar and Cory Yoder lead the Irvine offense and Stellar is also the service ace leader. Kevin Wynne has a team-high 102 blocks and Brent Asuka leads the Anteaters with 229 digs.

Ceran led the Cardinal with 19 kills in a preseason victory over defending national champion Irvine and led again with 18 in the rematch win a week later.

“Irvine is also a different team than when we saw them — they have different personnel on the floor,” Kosty said. “They play a faster style of offense than UCLA, so we will see two very different types of teams this weekend.”

Tonight’s match with UCLA will be Disco Night in Maples with tomorrow’s Senior Night taking place in Burnham Pavilion. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.