Chico High Girls Tennis’ Kaylee Morehead hits a backhand during the Panthers’ 9-0 victory Tuesday afternoon at Foothill High School in Palo Cedro, California. (Randy Agnew/Contributed)
CHICO — When it comes to the term student-athlete, Chico High tennis player Kaylee Morehead truly displays both sides.
As a junior who played all three varsity seasons, Morehead is now the Panthers’ No. 3 singles player, also plays doubles and has been called upon to play the No. 1 singles spot in many situations and has excelled. In the classroom, Morehead is a top student, takes many AP courses and currently boasts a 4.2 grade point average.
In Chico’s most recent tournament this past weekend at the Bay Area Tennis Classic, where the Panthers faced numerous Division I schools, Morehead won its third-place singles matches against Los Altos High, Mountain View High , Piedmont High and Monte Vista High. Due to her recent success, Morehead was named this week’s Chico Enterprise-Record Prep Athlete of the Week.
“Kaylee is an exceptional young woman, she is smart, determined and works incredibly hard on the field and in the classroom,” Panthers head coach Randy Agnew said in an email. “Kaylee is a quiet leader, leads by example and is a wonderful teammate. Kaylee is well respected by her teammates. Kaylee has worked very hard in the offseason to improve her tennis game and she is competing at a very high level. She spends many hours playing tennis at the racquet club during the off-season to improve.
Morehead plays third singles on a Chico High girls’ tennis team that is 2-0 in the Eastern Athletic League and has won 24 straight championship matches by a score of 9-0 since the end of the season 2020.
For Morehead, who only plays tennis at Chico High, playing tennis and excelling in school are two things that greatly complement each other. She specifically highlighted the challenges faced in both cases.
“When I do poorly in school, I need to do something about it. In tennis, you can’t let yourself be put down by one point, just like in school, if I get a bad grade on an assignment, I can’t pout about it. You have to learn and overcome your mistakes, otherwise you won’t be able to move forward,” Morehead said. “I think tennis and school were able to help me learn that: to be happy doing what I do and to keep moving forward. If you’re not having fun in school or sports, what’s the point?
Morehead started playing tennis when she was little with her father at the Chico Racquet Club, and at the time, it was just a time of family bonding. In fifth grade, she began taking the sport more seriously and later began competing in tournaments during the middle school summer as part of the Chico Racquet Club travel team.
“At that point, I was doing it for myself, I was making friends, I loved the sport and I loved the strategy,” said Morehead, who participated in swimming and soccer as a youth , but who didn’t really enjoy either sport.
When she arrived at Chico High as a freshman, she immediately joined the varsity after beating other girls above her on tryouts.
Morehead said what she enjoys about tennis is the strategy of the game and how it challenges her mentally.
“It’s you, one-on-one, against your opponent,” Morehead said. “It’s very individual, even though you’re playing as a team and can play doubles, you’re under a lot of pressure by yourself against your opponent and I really enjoy that challenge, overcoming that stress and finding out your opponent’s weaknesses. “
In the Panthers’ first regular season match this season in a tournament in San Luis Obispo against San Luis Obispo High School, Morehead played a singles match that she called her favorite she has ever played in. She came in full of adrenaline, excited for the match, and it lived up to the hype. Both players had equal skill levels and had long, consistent rallies. Both players went back and forth to win their service games, then Morehead finally broke her opponent’s serve. Morehead smiled the entire game. For her, it’s truly about having fun and trying to win the strategic battle.
Morehead said tennis played a huge part in shaping his high school experience. Tennis taught her a lot about challenges, but above all, she made a lot of friends.
“It’s definitely a great community and I feel very connected to it. I really appreciate that,” Morehead said. “I think playing tennis really helped me in high school and I’ve built so many relationships through tennis and coaches and people, and I think that’s really valuable.”
As for what’s next, as a school fan, she says if tennis were to continue after high school, it would be as a club sport. As someone who enjoys school, she still doesn’t know what she wants to do after college, but she could see herself getting into some type of research. She loves school, but said with a laugh, “I could probably have fun at school forever, but I still have to get a job at some point.” »
Chico High hosts Red Bluff at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, before traveling to Roseville to take on Woodcreek on Wednesday. The Panthers will play rival Pleasant Valley at 3:30 p.m. on September 21.
