FAMU tennis enters the NCAA Tournament ‘six strong,’ will face Georgia Bulldogs in regional

Florida A&M women’s tennis team has more matches to play.

The Rattlers are headed to the NCAA Tournament, where they will face the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs for the regional round in Athens, Georgia.

It’s the Rattlers’ second national tournament appearance in the last three seasons under longtime head coach Nikki Houston.

“We’ve been there before and know what it takes,” Earl Wade, FAMU’s assistant tennis coach, told the Tallahassee Democrat. “We’re battle-tested. You have to play. Nothing is guaranteed.”

FAMU clinched the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament championship by beating Jackson State 4-2 in the title match.

The Rattlers’ SWAC title win came a year after failing to repeat as champions when they lost to Alabama State in the 2024 championship round.

“I told the young ladies to remember this, keep your head up, and use this as your vehicle to get back,” Wade said. “We knew what we wanted and had something to prove.”

What made the Rattlers’ championship season so special is that they pulled it off with an abbreviated roster of six.

However, instead of the low numbers hampering the FAMU tennis team, it brought players closer together.

“This year has been very taxing because we only had six players,” Wade reflected on the season. “I call them ‘six strong.’ We’re family, depend on each other, and count on each other. It’s us against the world.”

One of the FAMU’s six players is Sara Rakim, named the SWAC’s Tennis Player of the Year. The Morocco native also earned SWAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

Other All-SWAC selections include Reagan Harris, a first-teamer, and Susan Salinas, who made the second team.

“I’m focusing on bringing the energy, staying positive, and believing in us because I know we got talent and can have great results,” Rakim said.

Now, as a senior, playing at Georgia is all too familiar to Rakim. The Rattlers also played the Bulldogs in the 2023 national tournament, where Georgia topped FAMU 4-0.

Five of FAMU’s six players from the 2023 SWAC Championship team remain on the roster in 2025.

“I’m very excited because this is my last tournament as a college tennis player,” Rakim said. “My family wants to watch, and everybody’s excited for me to play.”

FAMU tennis (11-10) and Georgia (23-3) will meet at 1 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens on GeorgiaDogs.com. Georgia Tech and Iowa round out the four-team regional.

“Hard work, determination, perseverance, fight. That’s what this team did,” Wade said. “With them doing that, you see the fruit of all the hard work by winning the SWAC again.”

Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.

Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at [email protected] or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU tennis to play against the Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament