The five-year wait for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun men's tennis team ended just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.

That's when the Cajuns saw their name pop up on the bracket for the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships, putting the UL squad into postseason for the first time since 2000.

"It feels very good to be in," said senior Evghenii Corduneanu, the only senior on the UL squad. "Last year we were close and didn't get in, so it felt good to see our name up there."

The Cajuns, 12-7 with most of those losses coming to teams in the NCAA field, will face state rival Tulane (21-5) in the 64-team tournament's opening round. That match will be at LSU's W.T. "Dub" Robinson Stadium in Baton Rouge on May 13 at 1 p.m., with No. 11 national seed LSU hosting one of the 16 four-team regionals.

Regional top seed LSU (19-8) will face No. 4 seed Binghamton (21-5), winner of the American East Conference, in the other first-round match at 10 a.m. The two winners meet in the regional finals on May 14 at noon to determine who advances to the national tournament in College Station, Texas.

"Our guys deserve this," said Cajun coach Justin McGrath. "They've worked hard all year and played some tough matches on the road, so we should be ready."

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com