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Luke Pennington had University of Illinois-Springfield on his list of potential colleges. His mother knew the head coach at UIS and reached out to gauge his interest in her son.

“He had seen my UTR and my ranking, and already knew who I was,” Pennington said. “He was actually wanting me to reach out to him. So I ended up doing that, and then it kind of just went from there.”

Pennington visited the college three times before committing to the NCAA Division II program. The three-star senior from Overland Park, Kansas signed his financial agreement with the Prairie Stars during the opening of the signing period in November.

“I intend to major in marketing. That's why UIS was a great academic fit too, because they have a great business program. I definitely will pursue business after tennis and go into sales,” Pennington said. “Throughout high school and middle school I’ve known I would be best in sales because that is just my personality.”

Pennington comes from a family of college athletes. His dad played baseball in college and his mom, Samantha, played tennis at Eastern Illinois. His older brother, Cooper is a senior at Division III Westminster College, where his mom is the head coach of the men’s and women’s programs.

Pennington grew up with baseball and basketball as his main sports. He got burned out of baseball by the fifth grade and decided to make tennis his primary focus.

“In baseball, I was kind of sitting out a lot and not able to get too much action,” Pennington said. “I knew that tennis wasn't controlled by a coach, whether you are starting or sitting. You're your own team out there, and you're the one playing the whole game. That's kind of why I chose tennis and have stuck with it ever since.”

Pennington never wavered from one of his main athletic goals no matter what sport he was pursuing.

“I always knew I wanted to play a sport in college, and I never really thought about how good I was going to be at tennis when I switched,” Pennington said. “I didn't really know what the average college tennis player looked like, skillfully. I didn't really know much about the difference between Division I, II or III. But I guess I kind of had the confidence and envisioned myself playing a college sport.”

Pennigton approached his college search with a realistic outlook. He wanted to find the right level of college tennis so he could be on the court and contributing.

“A lot of kids don't get to play college sports. I just want to help my team as much as I can,” Pennington said. “I'm looking forward to it. I think I'll have a great coach who'll be able to coach me over the next four years, and I think I'll actually be getting a lot better as a tennis player because there's a lot of good players on this team. They'll be able to push me every single day.”

Pennington doesn’t plan to ease his workout and training sessions just because he’s signed with UIS. After going through the recruiting process, he’s eager to begin the next phase of his life in a new state as the best version of himself.

“After visiting a lot of schools, I think I definitely found the right one. This is the one that was just most exciting,” he said. “I'm just very happy I found the right choice in the end for sure.”

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].