AUSTIN, Texas – The McNeese tennis team will be traveling to Austin, Texas on Friday to face No. 6 Texas at 1 p.m. at the Texas Tennis Center to open up its first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

The match will be streamed live at www.hookem.at/WatchTennis with the Cowgirls playing on the north courts.

The Cowgirls (18-3) are coming off of a historic season which saw the program win it first ever Southland Conference Championship as well as it first Southland Conference Tournament Championship which gave them a berth into the NCAA tournament.

The Longhorns (22-4) won the Big 12 Championship and currently have three competitors ranked in the top 70 of the ITA Division I Women's ranking.

In doubles action the Cowgirls number one line of Sarah Jurakova and Hannah Brett will face off against the fifty-fifth ranked duo of Petra Granic and Bojana Markovic.

"Over the past two weeks we have been doing a lot of conditioning and practicing every day," said Brett. "We've prepared as much as we can for this and we are going into the match with a good mindset. We want to win and we don't want to stop just where we are at. This is a great opportunity for us and we want to achieve as much as we can."

In singles action Giovanna Fioretti will face-off against the top ranked player in the country at the number one line, Bianca Turati.

"I'm just going to play and be relaxed, I don't have anything to lose" said Fioretti. "I know Bianca from Italy and I have played her once five years ago and won. We have no pressure and we have already made it so I am just going to play tennis."

The Cowgirls will be looking to make Southland Conference history as the first team to ever win a match in the NCAA tournament.

"We are very excited for Friday," said head coach Helena Besovic. "We will have a big crowd supporting us here in Austin and can't wait to compete. We have worked hard in practice and feel ready for the match against Texas."