The Tello Sisters: "Proud of Our Name"

By Megan Webb

Texas State Volleyball fans have seen the #22 jersey for the last four years, but now it has a new owner.

Lana Tello, a freshman this season, has come in and is working to make a name for herself as the new #22 for the program.

Her predecessor? That'd be Lana's older sister, Kayla.

Kayla Tello played as a defensive specialist for Texas State from 2019 until she graduated in 2022 and now is a 7th and 8th grade health teacher. Despite battling injuries throughout her career, including a torn ACL that forced her to redshirt her freshman season, Kayla played in 53 matches and 129 sets as a Bobcat.

For her younger sister Lana, she always looked up to her older sister.

"We've always been supportive of each other," Lana said. "But I grew up watching her play and knew I wanted to be like her. She was my inspiration."

As she went through the recruiting process, being recruited by the team her sister was actively playing on made a big impact on her choice.

"When Kayla committed here and I was watching the games we came to I was like, 'okay I like the environment,'" Lana said. "I already knew Sean [Huiet] and Keith [Anderson] so I was already comfortable."

Kayla may have been the first Tello sister at TXST, but she didn't have much to do with the coach's decision to recruit her.

"I didn't have to put a word in for Lana," Kayla said. "Her athleticism spoke for itself. She went to college camps, she emailed colleges, she played for a high-level team, and she played well."

Throughout the recruitment process, Lana had a unique opportunity to get to know people who would eventually become her teammates and friends. Additionally, Huiet and his staff had known the Tello family for so long that it made the recruitment process that much simpler.

"I've known [the Tello's] for so long," Huiet said. "They knew it would be an option [to both play at Texas State] if they wanted."

In addition to already knowing the ins and outs of the program, though, Texas State was close to home for the Tello sisters. Being from Buda, just up the road from campus, made Texas State an opportunity to play both a high level of volleyball and stay close to family.

"I didn't want to go anywhere far out of state," Lana said. "My family isn't far, so if I'm struggling and need to go home I can, they can come watch me play every home game. That's what I really wanted and why I pushed to come here."

For Kayla, that was a big part of her decision to stay at Texas State, too.

“[Playing at Texas State] gave my family an opportunity to come see us play at every home game and just be there to support us," Kayla said. "It has been nothing but a blessing to go to school at Texas State. We have had so many opportunities that others don't."

Having the ability to watch their younger siblings' high school games, seeing family regularly, and being around to support family members with health complications were important to the Tello sisters.

"It was huge for us to stay near our family," Kayla said.

Volleyball now has become a family affair for the Tello's, but that wasn't always the case. The Tello's mom had originally been a volleyball player, but all three of the Tello sisters made the switch to volleyball.

"Even when we were younger [Kayla] would ask me to pepper, we would hit at each other," Lana said. "She would even coach me sometimes."

As the Tello sisters got older, there was a realization that they could potentially end up both playing at Texas State. Despite the sister's close relationship, they both had their reasons for wanting to go to Texas State. For Lana, it wasn't just about following in her sister's footsteps.

"One of my high school coaches had this talk with me and said 'you are going to be known as Kayla's sister,'" Lana said. "But you need to make a name for yourself."

Lana has come in straight away and begun making her name, though. As a freshman, Lana has played in most of the Bobcats matches through the start of the 2023 season.

"We knew Lana could come in and compete right away," Huiet said. "We knew she had a high volleyball IQ, and the Tello's are known for passing and we knew Lana could come in and pass the ball."

There was at one point, though, conversations surrounding Kayla taking her fifth year of eligibility from her redshirt to play a year of college volleyball with her sister.

"It would've have been fun to play with each other," Kayla said. "But at the time I was just ready to start teaching and coaching. I always wanted to coach so I was looking forward to that. I love helping and teaching kids what I love to do."

Another benefit that Lana has found from having a sister as an alum of her team, though, is the support she gets when times get tough.

[Kayla] told me, like, 'it's going to be hard. You're going to have times where you're going to want to quit and give up,'" Lana said. "But she told me if I can do it, you can do it. She gave me a lot of talks, telling me 'you're going to get through it' and just preparing me mentally."

Despite choosing to go on to her next chapter of life and not playing a fifth-year with her sister, there is a small part of Kayla that wishes she could've played alongside Lana. But at the same time, she loves her next chapter of life and getting to be the big sister in the stands, cheering Lana on, all while sharing the #22.

"To see her in my number makes me proud," Kayla said. "Proud of myself, proud of her, proud of our name. We worked extremely hard to get where we are. And the one thing we were taught was to never give up. So, #22 will live on through my sister."

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