Chico girls tennis’ Kaylee Morehead excelling in the classroom, on the court | Prep Athlete of the Week

CHICO — When it comes to the term student-athlete, Chico High girls tennis player Kaylee Morehead truly displays both sides.

As a junior who has played all three seasons on varsity, Morehead is now the No. 3 singles player for the Panthers, plays doubles as well and has been called upon to play the No. 1 singles spot in many situations and has excelled. In the classroom Morehead is a straight-A student, takes numerous AP classes and is currently sporting a 4.2 grade point average.

In Chico’s most recent tournament last weekend at the Bay Area Tennis Classic, where the Panthers faced numerous Division I schools, Morehead won her singles matches at the No. 3 spot against Los Altos High, Mountain View High, Piedmont High and Monte Vista High. Due to her recent success, Morehead has been named this week’s Chico Enterprise-Record Prep Athlete of the Week.

“Kaylee is an exceptional young lady, she is smart, determined and is an incredible hard worker on the court and in the classroom,” said Panthers’ head coach Randy Agnew in an email. ” Kaylee is a quiet leader, she leads by example and is a wonderful teammate. Kaylee is very well respected by her teammates. Kaylee has worked really hard in the offseason to improve her tennis game and she competes at a very high level. She puts in many hours of tennis at the racket club in the offseason to get better.”

Morehead plays No. 3 singles on a Chico High girls tennis team that is 2-0 in Eastern Athletic League play and has won 24 straight league matches by a score of 9-0 dating back to the end of the 2020 season.

For Morehead, who plays only tennis at Chico High, playing tennis and excelling in school are two things that piggy back off each other greatly. She specifically pointed to the challenges one faces in both.

“When I do badly in school I have to work through 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 essay I can’t pout about it. You have to learn and move on from your mistakes otherwise you’re not going to be able to move forward,” Morehead said. “I think tennis and school have been able to help me learn that — to be happy with doing what you’re doing and keep moving forward. If you’re not having fun in school or the sport then what’s the point?”

Morehead began playing tennis as a little kid with her dad at the Chico Racquet Club, and at the time it was just family bonding time. In fifth grade she began to take the sport more seriously, and later began playing tournaments over the summer in middle school as part of the Chico Racquet Club’s travel team.

“At that point I was doing it for myself and making friends, and liking the sport and liking the strategy,” said Morehead, who participated in swimming and soccer in her youth, but neither latched on as something she truly enjoyed.

When she arrived at Chico High as a freshman, she made varsity right away after defeating other girls above her in 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, versus your opponent,” Morehead said. “It’s very individual, even though you do play on a team and can play in doubles, you’re under a lot of pressure by yourself against your opponent and I really like that challenge and overcoming that stress and figuring 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’s ever played in. She entered full of adrenaline, excited for the match, and it lived up to the hype. Both players were on equal skill levels and had consistent, long rallies. Both players went back and forth winning their service games, and then Morehead finally broke her opponent’s serve. Morehead was smiling the entire match. For her, it is truly about having fun and trying to win the strategy battle.

Morehead said tennis has helped shape her high school experience tremendously. Tennis has taught her a lot about going through challenges, but most importantly she’s gained a lot of friends.

“It’s definitely a big community and I feel very connected to that. I really appreciate that,” Morehead said. “I think playing tennis has really helped me in high school and I’ve built so many relationships through tennis and the coaches and people, and I think that’s really valuable.”

As for what’s next, as someone who loves school she says if tennis were to continue after high school it would be in the form of a club sport. As someone who loves school, she still does not know what she wants to do after college, but could see herself going into some type of research. She loves school, but said with a laugh, “I could probably have fun being in 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 play at cross-town rival Pleasant Valley at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21.