The SWAC West-West Challenger which was hosted by Prairie View A&M University March 23 and 24, at Homer Ford Tennis/Macgregor Park in Houston, Texas.The men’s and women’s tennis team faced off against Southern, Grambling, and Arkansas Pine Bluff.
The first team to face off against the Panthers of Prairie View was Arkansas Pine Bluff. On the women’s side, the women swept their opponents, 7-0.
The men matched the women by unleashing a total melee on the men of Arkansas Pine-Bluff. The further the Panthers went into the tournament, the more challenging the tournament became.
Their next opponent for the day was Grambling State. The women once again proved their toughness by sweeping their opponents off their feet winning all of their matches, 7-0.
The men played and came out victorious, 6-1, the match was a little tougher, but the Panthers prevailed. With those two victories under the Panthers belt, they punched their ticket for the SWAC Tournament.
The last was against Southern University, which would be a merciless bout. The women had a good match, but ran into some trouble, with their first loss in the tournament, 4-3, which gave them a record of 2-1.
The men had a solid, but late decision which gave them a 4-2 win over Southern. This gave them an undefeated record in tournament, and in the SWAC.
The Lady Panthers described their experience as “positive.” Sophomore Candace Culmer said, “We learned from our experience, when we lost by one point, we continued to fight it out to the end.” While agreeing with Candace, freshman Melissa Guerrier said, that the Lady Panthers will be ready for the SWAC Championships, which will be held in Alexandria, La.
With their hard work, the men have earned the number one seed on the west side in the SWAC tournament, while the women have earned the number two seed.
The next action the Panthers will see will be in Dallas, where the Lady Panthers face off against SMU.
The men will face off against SMU, U-Little Rock, Arkansas, and Abilene Christian. Coach Cochran said, “The men and women are hungry and poised, they are ready to win a SWAC championship.