CHICAGO - Former UIC women's tennis standout Haley (Craig) Gay has made her way into the professional tennis circuit over the past 10 months. She competed in tournaments with the United States Tennis Association before moving up to the International Tennis Federation.

Gay took eight months off after graduating from UIC in Aug. 2013 to rehab a shoulder injury before diving into training in May 2014 with Steve Jackson out of California Tennis Club.

"I decided to play professionally because at my core is a love for competition, one that was even more intense after college," said Gay. "I wanted to keep playing to see what I could do on a bigger scale."

In the summer of 2014, Gay began playing in local open tournaments through the UTSA to get back into competition.

At the $22,000 Pacific Northwest Championships, Gay combined with Garrett Patton of Boise State to win mixed doubles. The duo picked up a key 9-8 win against Joel Kielbowicz, who competed in the 2014 US Open mixed doubles, and Riko Shimizu. Gay also made it to the semifinals of women's singles and doubles with 2-1 marks in both events.

Gay finished second in women's doubles while paired with Khristina Blajkevitch at the $22,000 Washington State Open after advancing from the round of 16 to the finals. She also made it to the quarterfinals while competing in singles and in mixed doubles with Charlie Cutler.

The new year began the start of Gay's involvement with ITF's pro circuit. In her first tournament, she advanced to the main singles draw at the $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe). She picked up wins in the qualifier against Ashley Mackey, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Julia Moriarty, 6-3, 6-1, who was once ranked as high as 615th in the world.

Gay made it to the main draw at the $10,000 Petit-Bourg (Guadeloupe). She defeated Angie Laporal, 6-2, 6-0, and Northwestern's former No. 1 Veronica Corning, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, who finished her collegiate career in 2014 ranked No. 56 by the ITA after receiving her highest ranking on Feb. 11, 2014 at No. 30.

"It is really tough to play through the qualifying of these professional tournaments," Gay said. "It typically takes a couple times to make the main draw, but I did it my first time out and I am beating girls who are ranked and played at the highest collegiate level."

"It has been really fun thus far, though extremely challenging to be away from home for a month and have to mentally be ready to compete each day," added Gay. "There is no doubt that I have the athleticism and talent to be very successful on tour. However, knowing how to execute under pressure is the hard lesson I am currently learning."

Gay is set to participate in a select number of local women's opens leading up to April. She will travel to Heraklion, Greece, to compete in a series of $10,000 ITF tournaments.

From 2011-13, Gay was a key part of the Flames roster after transferring in from Johnson County Community College. In her career at UIC, she compiled a 35-27, 12-5 HL, mark in singles and 42-27, 15-3 HL, record in doubles. She aided in a pair of championships for the Flames and also received Horizon League recognition by being named to the All-League Second Team as a junior and First Team as a senior.