JACKSON — Along with being the first all-state medalist in Saxony Lutheran girls tennis history, 2025 graduate Abby Haley will also be the first Crusader to ever play college tennis this school year.
Haley is set to do so at Division III Concordia Wisconsin as she signed with the program following her final year of high school tennis.
Interestingly enough, Haley never played tennis before she came to Saxony, but in four years she became one of the top players in all of Southeast Missouri.
“So when I came into Saxony, I was just a freshman, and I had never played tennis before freshman year because I was into volleyball, but I really enjoyed it when I went to tennis open courts,” Haley said. “For me it was the environment of the team and Coach [Amy] Birk was a real impact on that.
“Being the first person to go play tennis in college for Saxony means a lot because it shows it doesn’t matter where you really started. If you want to do it, you can put your mind to it, and you can get there with the help of God.
“I didn’t make it here by myself — I have had a bunch of people help me. There are more opportunities than just high school tennis for girls coming up in the future.”
Haley did so alongside her doubles partner and fellow 2025 graduate Maggie Hillin, whom Haley actually beat out in friendly competition for the No. 1 spot in singles this past fall.
Haley, who describes herself as an ultra-competitive person, set this out as a personal goal — something that led her to be the most decorated player in Saxony tennis’s seven-year history.
Haley’s competitive drive also kept her consistently competing in three — sometimes four — sports throughout her high school career, ranging from basketball, track and field and soccer on top of tennis.
“I love just being busy,” she laughed. “I love being there in the moment, and I love helping my team out to get the win. Just the rush and adrenaline of being a part of that and getting to experience all of these opportunities I got was amazing.
“That really helped motivate me — it was very self-motivating — and my parents were always very supportive. I want to win — I want to keep winning — and I want to be around people who also want that. Saxony was really just an amazing environment for me to be successful.”
Along with being a two-time all-state medalist in tennis, Haley was also a multiple-time state qualifier in track, led the soccer team to back-to-back state final fours and was a district champion in basketball.
In Haley’s final season of tennis, she finished with a doubles record of 24-3 and earned all-district honors alongside Hillin, while she went 15-3 in singles. As a team, the Crusaders finished 14-4 overall after an 8-0 start to the season.
The season before that, Haley and Hillin finished with a doubles record of 26-7, while they both went 11-4 overall in singles. If you can’t already tell, what Haley might miss the most about Saxony, especially on the tennis court, will be Maggie.
“I’ll definitely look back on Maggie’s and my accomplishments and our friendship,” Haley said. “She really helped me a lot because we grew together as doubles partners, and she started playing tennis before freshman year, so she taught me a lot.
“I’ll miss all the connections with the girls on the team because everyone got along so well, and we were always supporting each other. As I go to play in college, I want to keep continuing to just support my teammates and know that we’re all trying to help each other and be the best we can.”
The fact that Haley’s college campus is around seven hours away from Cape Girardeau County doesn’t bother her one bit because of how great of a fit the school was for her.
Not only is Concordia Wisconsin a private Lutheran university, but Haley said the school and tennis team also gave her a very familiar feeling — one that led her to play college tennis in the first place.
“First it’s a Christian Lutheran school, so I can get my Lutheran education, and they have an occupational therapy program, which I want to go into,” Haley said. “Those were two really big points, but I practiced with the tennis team, and it felt like Saxony — it felt like home.”
Outside of the classroom, all of Haley’s focus will now just be on tennis, which, of course, wasn’t the case for her entire high school athletic career.
“There won’t be different sports seasons for me now — it’ll just be tennis all the time, which I think is good,” Haley said. “I think it’ll help me grow in the sport because sometimes I still feel new to it, but it’ll be different. I’m going to have to learn to use different muscles because all those sports worked all different parts of my body.”
Another aspect of playing college tennis Haley will enjoy the most is being able to represent not just Southeast Missouri, but Missouri as a whole while she’s playing up north.
“I think it catches people off guard when I tell them I’m playing college tennis,” Haley said. “I feel like tennis players from Missouri — you don’t really have many of them so it’s sort of taboo. I’m excited to say I’m from Southeast Missouri — I’m proud of that and my school.
“There’s more here than just farming,” she said. “This area is pretty competitive for tennis, I feel like.”
