8 Friday • February 20, Come Join Us In Saving the Lives of Children in the Brazos Valley!!! February 20-21, 1998 6:0 °P m - Midnight . tu Duncan Dining Hall Po 0< J Benefiting Questions about getting involved?????? Call 268-3140 We Need YOU to come Volunteer & help make MIRACLES HAPPEN! Sports Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team hosts Southwest, then travels to Lubbock for conference opener By Al Lazarus Staff writer The Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team will take on Southwest Texas State today at 2 p.m. at the Omar Smith Tennis Center, and will travel to Lubbock on Sunday to play Texas Tech. The Aggies lost to Tech last year, 4-2, and did not play Southwest Texas. The 33rd-ranked Aggies (2-1) played a close match against No. 6 LSU last Friday in Baton Rouge, losing 4-3. After winning the doubles point, they needed only three sin gles victories to win the match, but could only manage two. Coach Tim Cass said despite the Aggies near victory against a top-ten team on the road, he still considers the LSU match a loss like any other. “There’s really no such thing as a moral victory, we had talked about going out there (to LSU) and winning,” he said. “But the match gave me some ideas of what we need to work on.” Although it would be easy for the Aggies to look back on die LSU match and think about how close they came to victory, Cass said he does not expect this to happen. “We really don’t have enough time to look back,” he said. “If we do, it could get us in trouble.” Freshman Rafael de Mesa, cur rently ranked No. 37 in the nation, said dwelling on LSU should not be a problem for the men’s team. “We are looking forward to playing Tech and Southwest Texas. They are good teams,” de Mesa said. Cass said that while he does not want to look past the Southwest Texas State match on Friday, he is excited about playing Tech. “TexasTech will be our first con ference match,” he said. “And win ning the conference is a serious goal for us this year.” RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion Freshman Rafael de Mesa will face a double-dip against Southwest Texas and Texas Tech this weekend. Microsoft Save the whales. Save the environment. Save your numerically challenged checking account. Save big, and get Microsoft Office 97 Professional Academic Edition for $199." Better yet, save really big — up to 73 % f — and get Office 97 plus two years of upgrades hassle-free, for just an additional $100.* Saving the world is tough enough without worrying about saving your last dime. That’s why we created the Microsoft Office 97 Academic Upgrade Program. For a limited time, you can get Office 97 Professional Academic Edition, plus two years of major upgrades, for just $299.* That’s up to a 73 percent savings off the U.S. estimated retail price. Just look for specially marked boxes of Office 97 at your campus reseller today. It’s the worry-free way to keep up with the latest technology — and keep your wallet healthy and green. Texas A&M Bookstore Memorial Student Center, Col. Station, TX 77844 409-845-8681 * All prices listed are U.S. estimated retail prices. Reseller prices may vary. t Based on the U.S. estimated retail price of $599 for Office 97 Professional Edition, plus 1.3 as the average number of upgrades in a two-year period (estimated full retail upgrade is $399). Offer good in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia only. Offer expires February 28, 1998. © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Aggie Sports Briefs m from staff and wire i Ags try to avui record streak The Texas A&M Men's Ba;* Team (6-17,0-13) will attempt their first Big 12 Conference! when they host Texas Tech(D 7) at 12:45 p.m. Saturday. The Aggies tied their longti ing streak in school historyvt 74 loss to Texas in Aus: Wednesday night. With a win, Texas A&Mc setting the all-time school re:®' 11 ' consecutive losses at 15 nr 8 The Aggies have lost 16 core games in a row going back: season and includingtheirfirs: Big 12 Tournament loss to homa. The school record foro utive conference losses in 18 Tech is coming off a home: overtime to Oklahoma State - Red Raider senior guard Coo scored 33 points. When the two teams meU bock on Feb. 7, Carr and sopta guard Rayford Young combir* t 50 points and Carr led the tee - C It Swim team enji Big 12 success! The Texas A&M Women's ming Team had a productiveli! in the Big 12 Championsb Austin on Thursday. M Senior all-American StacieKw x c sophomore Tracy Evans and man Katie Ramos qualified 500-freestyle. Karnes is thedf ing Big 12 champion intheever year. The times of the athletess them all consideration forthe' Division I Women’s Swimmir| Diving Championships March!! Monica Stroman also earned 1 consideration for her 2:03.16i the 200-yard individual medley. The Aggies will return uals to competition withtheoi nities to score points for them and white in later competition. The Philips 66/Big 12 W Swimming and Diving Champii will continue through SaturdejM preliminaries beginning each da a.m. and finals at 7 p.m. Softball Continued from Page5 didn’t make the routine pi? she said. “We would makethel ly tough plays and thenmakerj ical mistakes on the routineoi We have to be more consistent! Sophomore shortstop)® he| Smith agreed, saying jncos In tent play has been the ted iaij biggest problem. “If we are going to wincoff tently, we have to make then tine plays,” she said. “We also it to hustle more. Our hustle oni field is not that great right no" h.i Evans said she believes ait jjll| t eam needs to improve its pi® more playing time which "it \v| low the players to settle in anil ial into a rhythm. )kil Despite the inconsistent® qi[ play, the Aggies are still rackiif )1 ( the wins. “Our com posure and our ability to come from behind impresses the most,” Evans said. “We don’t panic. We settle in and come to gether as a Evan5 team and we get the job done.” Freshman pitcher Ashley h' 1 io| said the team’s ability to cut 1 tv from behind creates an intin'® tion factor. Pi “It says to the other team.® o: though you scored some runs* we didn’t play our best, vve won,” Lewis said. "We wanttb^ 1 timidation. It makes a staten/ rv Evans has also been impr$ with the team work ethic a# likes to see the players pusl 11 each other for starting positio 11 Evans said she is pleased" her pitchers’ performances well. The Aggies have an allf^ s| men pitching staff which cai> f: concerns earlier this season, they have responded well. “All of our pitchers have# gled some this season, but so" 1 how they still come through"!' end when we need them the"' n| and get the win,” Evans said. Next weekend, the Aggies travel to Columbus, Ga., to pa"" ipate in the NFCA Tourname"