Tejada leaves behind a tennis legacy at Kennett

KENNETT, Mo. - Christi Tejada entered the tennis season this fall unprepared and nervous.

The graduating senior from Kennett High School missed the entire summer of practices and the first few weeks of competition  while she was away at Fort Leonard Wood  basic training with the Army.

“I was a week late to school and MSHSAA didn’t let me play,” Tejada said. “I was scared. I thought ‘what if I come back and somebody took my spot.’ They worked hard all summer and I was gone all summer doing something else.”

The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) requires all athletes to have two weeks, or 14 days, of practice before they can compete. Due to this rule, even though Tejada was back home and ready to play, she was forced to sit out and miss the first few matches of her senior year. 

Despite falling behind on her training and competing, not picking up a racket all summer, Tejada came back onto the courts with a desire to win and qualify for state in her last season.

“I came back with a really good mentality,” Tejada said. “I told myself ‘this is it. This is your senior year. You just gotta work hard. You’re in shape’.”

According to Tejada, everything came back to the fundamentals she learned. She said ‘you never forget how to play.’

Her first match of the season was on Sep. 7 at the Sikeston Individual Tournament. Here Tejada placed second, making it to the Championship match and showing she can still be dominant on the court.

“I obviously came back rusty,” Tejada said. “Other than that, I came back and played the hardest I have ever played.”

After her runner-up performance, Tejada only lost three matches in her final season. She won the SEMO Conference for Individuals and qualified for the MSHSAA Class 1 State Championship in singles.

Head coach Janette Hilburn watched and coached Tejada as she progressed from the first time she picked up a racket to being an individual state qualifier.

“When she came out as a freshman, she didn’t know if she wanted to play volleyball or tennis,” Hilburn said. “She had no lessons or anything.”

Tejada began her career as a freshman playing on JV. 

Her sophomore season, Hilburn said Tejada worked all summer to get better and move up to varsity. Tejada became a workhorse, and tennis became her life.

“During the summer, she was out here in the 110 degree heat,” Hilburn said. “She was working, she was playing with boys and with anybody that came out here. She was playing at 10 and 11 p.m. at night. She was playing at 6 and 7 in the morning and she jumped up to varsity. She saw what it was going to take to be on varsity, to win matches and she did that. She’s a workhorse.”

Tejada qualified for state her sophomore year with her doubles partner, Handley McAtee. She would qualify for doubles again her junior year with Macy Bazzell.

This year, Tejada wanted to qualify in the singles tournament for state. 

Hilburn said she was able to use Tejada as an example and team leader due to her work ethic and dedication to the sport. She said Tejada was able to push her teammates and get them out of their comfort zone and push them to work harder.

“Christi was a big motivator for play and hit and work extra,” Hilburn said. “They were real tight knit as a team and great friends and she kept the whole team going by leading them and that’s why they have been successful.”

The Kennett Indians finished with a 18-1 overall record, sending Tejada along with the doubles team of Claire Bean and McAtee to the state tournament. 

Due to her success as an individual, Semoball has announced Tejada as a candidate for the tennis player of the year at the 2024 Semoball Awards.  

Tejada will be serving with the Army post graduation. She will also be attending Arkansas State University while helping out with different tennis camps in her free time.

The 2024 Semoball Award will be held at LaCroix Church on July 12. A red carpet showing will start at 5:30 p.m. and the award ceremony will begin at 7 p.m.