Bennion loves tennis
When Lindsey Bennion was 6, she saw her older sister playing tennis and decided that was what she wanted to do.
“I wanted to do what she was doing,” Bennion said.
Bennion, a sophomore from Idaho, had a difficult time playing tennis in her early years.
“There’s not a lot of people for me to play up in Idaho Falls. So, I would always have to travel to Boise or Salt Lake and play in a lot of tournaments,” she said.
Despite the lack of competition in the area, Bennion thrived on tennis. She explained that she is a very competitive person and has played a lot of sports, like basketball, but she always came back to tennis.
“I think tennis is more individual. I can do what I want to do. It’s not a team sport, I don’t really like dealing with teams very much, I would rather have an individual sport.”
Tennis runs in the family for Bennion. When she was a freshman in high school Bennion decided to play tennis in college because her brother-in-law, sister and brother all played tennis for Idaho State University.
Although she followed her siblings into tennis, she didn’t follow them to ISU.
“I love the university atmosphere, and I love all the girls on the team,” she said of her choice to come to Utah State. “I love this. I love tennis.”
Before she came to USU Bennion knew most of the girls on the team from playing against them in intermountain tournaments. She also said that she had heard good things about Head Coach Chris Wright.
When Bennion came to USU, she didn’t have many expectations.
“I didn’t know what to expect from college tennis,” she said. “I’d never watched it. I’d never seen it before until I got up here into the college.”
Without many expectations, during her first year playing college tennis she learned some new things.
“Last year was just getting college tennis, but now that’s over I have college tennis under my belt,” she said. “I know what’s expected of me to play. I think college is more competitive [than what she played before], it’s the atmosphere. It’s harder. There are a lot of more foreigners on the teams and you travel a lot more and play a lot more matches.”
Despite the new atmosphere, Bennion found a team ready for her at USU and a team that she was ready to join.
“It is very enjoyable to play [tennis] with all these girls on the team here at Utah State. We get along really well with each other,” she said.
Bennion, along with other girls on the team like team captain Richelle Moon, believes that one of the team’s main strengths is their ability to play together.
“I think we like to compete together really well. We want to accept and overcome challenges together. If we are more together it will show improvement and better performance,” she said.
This season Bennion feels like the team is improving together as well as individually.
“I love doing this. I love being in the college atmosphere, playing competitive tennis. Every match is tight, but you learn from it and you can go on from your matches and learn from it,” she said of her college tennis experience.
So far, Bennion has done well for USU. She is 6-5 in individual matches playing at the number one singles spot for the team.
In doubles play Bennion is also 6-5 at the number one spot playing with Carolyn Stephens.
Like many other things in her life, tennis has taught Bennion many things. She said that it has taught her to be patient in life.
“I have to work the point and play the point,” she said.
She has also learned how to mentally prepare for her matches and play through the tight ones.
Bennion’s sister has continued to be an influence on her tennis career.
“She’s played tennis and has gone through obstacles, too,” she said. “If I have bad matches I call her and tell her what happened, and she’ll tell me what I need to do next time to figure it out.”
Her sister has also inspired one of Bennion’s biggest fears of playing tennis. Bennion explained that when she plays tennis she slides a lot, as does her sister. During one of her matches, Bennion’s sister was sliding and fell and tore her ACL. Bennion said she is terrified of doing the same thing.
Despite her fears, Bennion says she still loves playing.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu