Rattlers Set to Defend SWAC Championship in New Orleans

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida A&M University girls’s tennis is headed to the Big Easy with a goal on its again — and a championship banner price defending.

The reigning SWAC Tournament champions, the Rattlers enter the 2026 SWAC Women’s Tennis Tournament because the No. 5 seed, drawing a first-round matchup in opposition to No. 4 Southern on Friday, April 17 at 9:00 am CST at City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans. A win would propel FAMU into Saturday’s semifinals in opposition to the winner of No. 1 Jackson State and No. 8 Mississippi Valley State.

Florida A&M completed convention play with a 4-4 SWAC report — a mark that tells solely a part of the story. The Rattlers know what it takes to compete and win in this league. They proved that final 12 months, and event play on a impartial courtroom is the place champions are revealed, not seedings.

The bracket units up as a chance reasonably than an impediment. Southern, sitting at 5-3 in convention play, is a winnable first-round opponent for a defending champion who has proven the flexibility to elevate his sport when it issues most. A highway via the bracket — ought to the Rattlers advance — can be earned the onerous approach, however Florida A&M has by no means shied away from that problem.

City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans gives a real impartial setting, erasing any home-court benefit and placing the emphasis squarely on preparation, composure, and aggressive will. Those are qualities the Rattler program has constructed its identification round — and qualities that produced a championship twelve months in the past.

The Rattlers do not simply know the way to get to New Orleans. They know the way to go away with the trophy.

Quarterfinal motion will get underway Friday at 9:00 am CST, with semifinals scheduled for Saturday, April 18 and the championship match set for Sunday, April 19 at 10:00 am CST. The semifinals and closing rounds might be broadcast stay on SWAC TV