USC freshman tennis player Wood Benton bleeds garnet and black
One of an occasional series on freshmen athletes at USC.
For freshman tennis player Wood Benton, the University of South Carolina has always been the perfect match – not just for him, but for his family.
Benton, who lived in Florence before moving to Spartanburg, has a family tradition with USC that served a role in his recruitment.
“I had four or five schools in mind and I took a couple of other visits, but South Carolina was always the school that I wanted to go to,” Benton said. “My brother went here… my dad was here and I’ve been going to South Carolina football games since I was 4 or 5 years old. This is always where I’ve wanted to be.”
USC tennis coach Josh Goffi said watching a nationals match in Michigan led him to recruit Benton .
“I was getting calls from a lot of pros, a lot of teaching pros, coaches around the state saying, ‘You’ve got to look at Wood. He’s the biggest Gamecock fan you’ll ever meet. He’ll die for you on the court out there,’ ” Goffi said. “But it was one of those things where I went and finally saw him play… it was just the way he competed that really sealed the deal.”
Benton and his teammates will be participating in the SEC Men’s Tennis Tournament starting Thursday with a match against Arkansas.
Benton redshirted his first year to focus on training, get stronger and adapt to the high level of competition of Division I tennis. That year paid off for him as he has significantly contributed to the team, including a big win against Clemson.
“He’s won some big time matches for us,” said Goffi. “It was pretty cool seeing him clinch the match versus Clemson. You know, that was a big time moment for him. He was nervous, nervous as could be and he played not even close to his best tennis, but what was great was when he saw we were about to win and it just kind of lined up. He was in the position to close and clinch the match. He put the pedal to the metal and closed pretty quickly there.”
Benton’s parents, Jim and Carla Benton, grew up playing tennis and got him into the sport and saw him clinch the match against Clemson.
“It was pretty awesome,” Benton said. “That was one of the happiest I’ve seen them. They were really excited!”
Goffi said Benton’s competitiveness can help him in the future.
“He’s got a chip on his shoulder when it comes to playing and I like seeing that and the fact that he’s a huge Gamecock fan,” said Goffi said. “The guy bleeds garnet and black, for sure. He’s a big part of our team. We’re looking forward to him contributing in the future.”
SEC tournament
Who: Gamecocks (13-14, 4-8) vs. Arkansas (19-7, 7-5)
When: 10 a.m. Thursday
Where: The Gamecocks are hosting this year’s event at Carolina Tennis Center, 1316 Heyward St., Columbia
Cost/parking: Admission is free and parking is available in the Athletics Village Parking Garage located on Heyward Street
Tournament schedule
Wednesday’s result
No. 13 Tennessee 4, No. 12 Auburn 3
Thursday’s schedule
No. 7 Vanderbilt vs. No. 10 LSU, 10 a.m.
No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 11 South Carolina, 10 a.m.
No. 8 Alabama vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 2 p.m.
No. 5 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Tennessee, 2 p.m.
Friday’s schedule
No. 2 Florida vs. Vandy-LSU winner, 10 a.m.
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. USC-Arkansas winner, 10 a.m.
No. 1 Georgia vs. Alabama-Ole Miss winner, 2 p.m.
No. 4 Mississippi State vs. Kentucky-Tennessee winner, 2 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule
Semifinal games 1 and 2, noon
Sunday’s schedule
Championship game, Noon
This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 9:25 PM with the headline "USC freshman tennis player Wood Benton bleeds garnet and black."