South Carolina to face in-state rivals
After playing baseball and basketball when he was younger, sophomore Ben Barnette was introduced to the game of tennis at age 11 by a friend at a local country club.
With his history of playing team sports, Barnette said he enjoys playing doubles more than singles, in which he also competes.
“When I’m playing doubles, I feel like it’s not just me out there,” Barnette said.
Barnette and his partner, sophomore Thiago Pinheiro, started their spring season with an 8-3 win over Charlotte last weekend as USC’s third doubles team. They were already winning their match against Presbyterian when it was suspended because the Gamecocks had already clinched a win.
Barnette and Pinheiro will look to continue their winning streak when No. 39 South Carolina takes on Furman and Appalachian State in a doubleheader Saturday.
During practice, Barnette has focused on drills that would better his serve, a part of his game that he said “always held me back.” To improve, he has received help from coaches that will hone his skill.
“This year especially, I feel very confident about my serve,” Barnette said.
Since arriving at USC, Barnette, a Spartanburg, S.C., native, has paid less attention to the technique of his game, focusing instead on the mental aspect of each set he plays.
“This year, I’ve learned to become very mentally tough,” Barnette said. “I’ve just been more solid and consistent each and every match. All the aspects of my game have really improved in the last year or two.”
When playing against Furman and Appalachian State on Saturday, Barnette said he will continue using the method he knows work for him. After watching the tape of himself playing last weekend, he said his biggest strength was that he played within himself.
“I didn’t try to do anything incredibly flashy,” Barnette said. “I went out there and was very consistent.”
Barnette said he wasn’t always a consistent player because he didn’t have a certain strategy before college. Now, his current strategy, which consists of a calculated game that breaks down his opponent, is something he has worked on with coach Josh Goffi.
The sophomore sees this change as an improvement that helped his game against Charlotte and Presbyterian.
“I knew what I was going to do behind every single shot I hit,” Barnette said.
Getting inside his opponents’ heads enhances his ability to help the Gamecocks win. Goffi said that for Barnette, improvement rests in “playing with a consistent breakdown mentality.”
Barnette’s work ethic and strides toward improvement have been noticed by the people he works with.
“Ben has worked extremely hard, and he’s done exactly what’s he’s supposed to do,” Goffi said.
Pinheiro’s doubles partner last season was a senior who graduated, but he said Barnette has played well despite having minimal playing time last season.
“Ben is an awesome kid, and he’s doing an amazing job,” Pinheiro said.
Barnette said he had a later start in tennis than many of his teammates, who have been playing since they were 3 or 4 years old. He said he enjoyed the sport because it was “a new challenge.”
But in his second season at USC, his focus will be on being a consistent force in South Carolina’s lineup.
“I just want to be reliable and that way my teammates can rely on me to come through in the clutch,” Barnette said.