‘She’s Auburn women’s tennis’: An all-time Tiger, Bennett leads the nation’s No. 1 team into one last run together at the NCAA Tournament
Here’s how Auburn’s senior ace DJ Bennett through her successes — and her struggles — became a face of the program.
When DJ Bennett is at her best, she’s assertive and aggressive, pushing opponents back and powering her way forward on the court, going for it with ambitious serves and nailing her spots, committing with her movements and hitting confident forehands — a blur of blonde sending bombs across the net.
That’s what won her SEC Tournament MVP. That’s what’s helped push Auburn women’s tennis through a dream season, winning two SEC championships. It’s what led Auburn into position to host during NCAA Regionals this weekend, as it chases a national championship. It’s a big part of why the Tigers are ranked No. 1.
And it is, as far as head coach Jordan Szabo is concerned, what Auburn women’s tennis is all about.
“She’s Auburn women’s tennis, in my mind,” he said, “at least for the history that I know.”
In fairness, a good chunk of history for the program was written just this season. Szabo sat next to his senior standout Bennett on Thursday at a press conference ahead of this weekend’s NCAA Tournament opener, with the team’s SEC Tournament trophy sat on his other side. It’s Auburn’s first SEC Tournament championship in program history. It followed Auburn’s first-ever claim to the SEC’s regular-season championship, which Auburn earned a share of with a 13-2 conference record in the regular season. Auburn’s 32-3 overall, and enters Friday’s first-round match with Bryant at 1 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center with the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the No. 1 spot in the ITA national rankings.
“I’m just really proud of myself and of the girls,” Bennett said. “I think it’s every tennis player’s dream to be able to say all the things that we’ve accomplished, even just this year in the last couple of weeks.”
But there’s more behind the trophies and championships the last few weeks: There’s everything that went into them — and that’s what Szabo sees when he sees everything Auburn women’s tennis embodied pulled into one package in Bennett. She’s battled through knee surgeries during her high school career, and a coaching change during her college career. She’s climbed to the top of the individual rankings, to fall from them, then climb them again. She’s stuck with Auburn through it. Now she’s in position to chase one more championship as a Tiger, with the Tigers, for the Tigers.
“No one’s tougher than DJ. ... I’m so proud of her and her growth,” Szabo said. “I really feel like — not just these next few weeks, hopefully — but the best is yet to come for her tennis career and her life. I really feel like Auburn and Auburn women’s tennis is going to play a major role in the rest of her career, and I’m really excited to see what her life brings. I know that, if I played like a very small part in it, that will make my heart feel really good.
“But I’m really proud of her and anyone that’s out there that wants to come watch maybe one of the best athletes to ever play at Auburn in any sport, come out and make the most of the next couple weekends.”