3 minute read
Michaela Henne
from December 2014
by Le Journal
Henne Swings from State to College
After winning the doubles Missouri State Championship, senior Michaela Henne commits to playing college tennis at Creighton University.
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BY SARAH HARRIS CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The black oil pen whisks over the paper. Carefully she constructs the letters of her name. One stroke after the other will mean the permanence of her decision. It will stick with her for the next four years of her life.
Glancing at the paper, she is unaware of the reactions around her. Pictures snapping, family watching and her mother wiping her tear-stricken eyes.
The next day her sandy blond hair bounces in her ponytail. She holds her laptop and books close to her chest as if to prevent them from dropping. Walking down the senior hallway, it is hard to miss senior Michaela Henne’s bright eyes and infectious smile. Her dainty voice and easy-going stature make her a stand-out in her class, but tennis is what got her the gold.
Henne and her doubles partner sophomore Margo Gerke took home gold medals at the 2A Individual Doubles State Tournament in Springfield, Missouri. The duo played their last match against a team from Lee’s Summit North High School that had beaten them earlier in the season.
“The people that we played in the final, we had played them twice before that, and we lost to them once and had beaten them once,” Henne said.
The girls were nervous, but as a senior Henne had to step up to the challenge. Going into the final match the duo had only lost two matches together all season; one was to Lee’s Summit North.
As the match began Henne and Gerke had a strategy to win. After a pep talk with their coaches they were ready to win. And they did.
“It meant a lot to win state with Michaela especially because it was her senior year,” Gerke said. “She had placed before in State for the last four years, so it was exciting to finally be able to win it for her last year.”
Although this will not be Henne’s last match of her tennis career, she has to finish out her regular season for competitive tennis and announce a big decision.
“I decided to sign with Creighton, and that will start the next chapter of my tennis next fall,” Henne said.
But the choice didn’t come easily. Although she enjoyed her campus visit and admired the city of Omaha, originally Henne had her heart set on another school.
If someone would have asked her at the beginning of the year where she was going to college she would likely have responded Southern Illinois University Carbondale. After taking an official visit in August with the promise of a full-ride scholarship, Henne had made up her mind to become a Saluki, but when she called the coach of SIU the offer didn’t seem so promising anymore.
“She said ‘I don’t want to commit anyone until I have all of the recruits come,’” Henne said.
Though Henne was still confident in the school, her mother had noticed a cautionary flag. She urged her to look at other schools and reconsider her decision. She looked at other schools but always in the back of her mind was that she would be attending SIU next year. Until the rules changed.
When one of her friends went on an official visit she signed with the school the next day. The coach then signed a foreign player for the next year leaving only one scholarship left. A scholarship she wanted to save for the spring to possibly give out to a walk on.
“I was so mad at her for stringing me along for basically two and a half months,” Henne said.
Although her plans changed Henne has been able to find a new place to play. A place that she and her friends think is the best choice for her.
As she sits at the table with the pen in her hand surrounded by her family, friends and coaches, she is signing her future. With each stroke of ink she becomes more foreseeable as a Bluejay tennis player. A future that wasn’t always solidified, but never fleeting.
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