COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Eastern Kentucky University men's tennis team arrived in Texas late Wednesday evening in preparation for its NCAA Tournament first round match against Texas A&M Friday afternoon.

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The Colonels (18-7) have a practice session scheduled for this afternoon at 2 p.m. ET before squaring off against the Aggies (21-4) tomorrow at 3 p.m.

This is EKU's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Rob Oertel. The Colonels also qualified in 2010, 2011 and 2012. However, this will be the first appearance in the NCAAs for every player on the roster.

Eastern Kentucky's lineup is balanced from top to bottom. All six singles players have notched at least 10 victories this spring. Sophomore Sebastian Mueller has posted the team's best singles mark of 16-6 (.727). Mueller tallied one of the biggest wins in the OVC finals as he bounced back to take the No. 4 match in three sets.

Meanwhile, junior Alex Álvaro and freshman Ramon van Flymen earned All-OVC honors playing at the top of the lineup. Álvaro spent the entire year at the No. 1 position and has a 10-13 (.435) record. Van Flymen is 14-10 (.583) this spring, mainly at the No. 2 spot.

In doubles, Álvaro and sophomore Diego Asis have been tearing apart the competition. The two players are 10-1 (.909) when paired together and went 6-0 in OVC matches.

Texas A&M, seeded No. 6 in the tournament and No. 5 in the latest ITA rankings, is making its 22nd consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The back-to-back SEC Tournament champions and regular season co-champions are led by the 48th-ranked player in the country in All-SEC senior Jeremy Efferding as well as the seventh-ranked doubles pair of juniors Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant.

The EKU-Texas A&M winner will advance to play the winner of the match between Oklahoma State (16-9) and New Mexico (20-11) on Saturday, May 9 at 4 p.m. ET.

First and second round competition will be conducted Friday-Sunday, May 8-10, at 16 different regional sites with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Tennis Team Championships at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas from May 16-19.