Club Tennis
Utah State University tennis club is beginning its fourth year with a new club president and aspirations to return to nationals.
“I love tennis club, this is where all my friends are,” said Muriel McGregor, a graduate student who has been in tennis club since the club started. “It’s always exciting to see what new players come out, especially girls cause we don’t usually get many of those.”
Tennis club competes in tournaments in the fall and a regional tournament in the spring. The top three teams at the tournament qualify for nationals. Two years ago the team qualified for nationals after a third place finish at region.
As club tennis has been increasing in popularity across the United States the amount of teams competing has risen. Utah State’s club team missed out on nationals last year due to increased competition.
“The biggest thing that will happen this year is regionals, which happen over spring break,” said Caleb Camp, a junior in his first year as club president. “The fall is to get everyone introduced and in the spring we do local tournaments and compete against the other universities here in Utah. The surrounding states all come together in Salt Lake and play the big tournament to qualify for nationals. If you qualify then you compete at nationals which is in Arizona this year.”
In fall 2010 when Michael Scheffield and Chris Lloyd started the tennis club there were about 20 members. This year there are already at about 25 players. There is a chance to grow with larger numbers however the club is trying to focus more on quality rather than quantity.
“We want to keep it at about 20-25 competitive players,” Camp said. “This year our biggest thing is to do two practices a week, every Friday and Saturday there are events going on for our members.”
Members join the club for a variety of reasons, mostly because they want to play tennis at a higher level.
“I had free time,” said Jeremy Benson, a freshman in his second semester at Utah State. “Playing tennis in high school was awesome so I thought I would come out and play some more.”
Besides getting to play more tennis the players all enjoy close friendships with club members as they compete.
“Besides the tennis, Caleb is a great president,” McGregor said. “He’s really devoted to the club.”
“The people here are great, everyone is nice,” Benson said. “There are enough quality players that it challenges me. I get to hit with people that are better than me, which helps me get better. I didn’t really play any tournaments last semester, it will be nice to get out and play in some competitive matches.”
The club will play its next tournament hosted by Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, on Sept. 27. More information about the Utah State tennis club can be found on Facebook under the “USU Tennis Club” page.