- News by: John Lance

The week before playoffs in the Western Conference has set up a number of interesting matches to get the hype train rolling. University of Chicago has finished their regular season at 5-3, and will have to hold on and hope that Purdue can't knock them out of the third spot in Division 1 this week. 7-0 University of Michigan is looking to end their season perfect, as their week 9 opponents (0-7 Valparaiso University) are hoping to chalk up a win to end the season. The second and third playoff spots are going to go to some combination of Ohio State, U of Chicago, and Purdue, pending the results of the upcoming week's games. (4-3 Purdue plays 1-6 University of Illinois, while 5-2 Ohio State will face 3-4 Northwestern)

In West Division 2 this week, Texas A&M toppled Oregon state in a 3:0 victory to join Rice University at 6-1. However, since Rice has the head-to-head tiebreak, they sit at the top of the division. Their only competition is from University of Tennessee, who has already secured a playoff spot, but U of T can steal the top spot in the division with a 3:0 win over South Dakota State. However, if they lose even one game during the match Rice will advance as the #1 seed.

The playoff picture in Division 3 is unfortunately unclear, as a critical match between UC Riverside and USC has not been reported. However, it appears that 5-1 University of Washington will take the first spot if they can avoid a loss to 2-4 Utah Valley University in their final match. The second spot is hotly contested between University of Victoria, USC, University of British Columbia, and UC Riverside. UVic and UBC are playing each other this week, so the winner will secure a playoff spot.
In Division 4, the hype building all season will finally reach a crescendo, as last season's finalists will face off for the top playoff spot in their division. 7-0 UC San Diego and 7-0 UC Irvine will finally get to battle. UCSD has been unstoppable all season, only bringing out ace David Kim (3:0) for wins against Harvey Mudd and Berkeley. UCI's Darren Chen has been a little busier, coming into week 9 with a personal record of 7:0, also including a win over Berkeley's ace. The third spot in the division is already sewn up by Berkeley, who have posted a 5-2 record (losing only to UCSD and UCI) and are undoubtedly looking to the playoffs to get their revenge on the two University of California schools. UCSD vs UCI is going to be the match of the regular season, so if you've just started following CSL+, you've certainly picked the right time to do so. Next week we'll run down what teams advanced and the first round of the playoffs. Stay tuned!