The News staff report

Lamar will continue its men’s tennis season in College Station on Friday in the NCAA tournament against 18th-ranked Texas.

The match will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. This will mark the second meeting of the season between the Longhorns and Cardinals, as Texas won 6-1 in January. That match, however, was closer than indicated because two matches went to a third set and three sets went to tiebreakers.

“I think having already played them once helps us a little,” Lamar junior Jeandre Hoogenboezem said. “We are clearly going in as the underdog. But, the same can be argued for them as well. They are familiar with our program. We will have to step up our game, and hopefully we can surprise them.”

Texas is competing in the NCAA tournament for a 34th time since the NCAA began using a bracket format in 1977 and 25th time in a row. Lamar is seeded third in the College Station four-team pod.

The NCAA tennis tournament is a 64-team, single-elimination tournament, similar to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

The winner of Friday’s match will take on either Texas A&M or George Washington at 2 p.m. Saturday.