Sommer Makes Season Something Special

Jeff Lewis knew his Los Amigos girls’ tennis team would be better than last year’s squad, which went 9-10 and finished fourth in the Garden Grove League.

But Lewis had no idea he’d be thinking about league titles, undefeated seasons and Southern Section championships. Of course, Lewis had no clue that freshman Veronica Sommer was going to walk onto the Los Amigos courts the second day of practice.

Players like Sommer are known to drop from the sky at schools such as Corona del Mar and Woodbridge, but things like this don’t happen at Los Amigos, which never has won a Garden Grove League girls’ tennis title. Lewis said it took him only a few minutes to realize what he had in Sommer.

“We had the defending league singles champ last year and Veronica took care of her pretty good,” Lewis said. “You could tell by her footwork and how hard she was hitting the ball that she knew what she was doing. We told the girls that night that we might have a special season, and I’m not really an optimistic person.”

So far, Los Amigos and Sommer have been mighty special. The Lobos are off to their best start in school history at 15-0 and they could clinch a tie for their first league title today with a victory over La Quinta. Sommer is 44-1 in singles matches and is winning sets by an average score of 6-1.

Sommer said she finds the entire season hard to believe.

“I’ve been playing at a certain level for a couple of years, but I had no idea how the rest of the team played,” she said. “I was surprised to be No. 1 singles. I wasn’t even sure I’d be on the varsity team.”

Neither was Lewis. “She was a total mystery,” he said. “We were surprised when she showed up to practice that second day. Nobody on our team knew about her.”

That’s probably because Sommer spent most of her time practicing at nearby La Quinta High with her father.

“I’ve lived in the Los Amigos district, but I live closer to La Quinta,” she said.

Sommer began playing at age 9 with her father and mother, who were taking up the game themselves. Sommer learned the game from her father and by reading books and watching videos on the sport’s great players. She has studied Steffi Graf’s slice backhand and Martina Navratilova’s net game.

“She does not have a weakness in her game,” Lewis said. “She’s got the overhead, the topspin forehand and backhand, the volleys. . . . She has every shot.”

Sommer has managed to improve rapidly despite playing most of her tennis on public courts and taking few private lessons. She said she is aware her route to success is unconventional.

“Most of my tennis friends come from wealthy families and they can afford a lot of private lessons,” she said. “Tennis is not really a poor person’s sport.”

But Sommer said her parents have done the best they could with what money they have.

“They’ve sacrificed for me,” she said. “My dad was disabled and unable to work for five years. Although it was hard with one income, I probably wouldn’t have learned the game if he had been working all the time.”

Sommer’s father was the one who helped shape her style of play.

“My dad wanted me to become an all-around player, not just someone who stayed on the baseline all the time. Because of how I’ve been taught, I’m actually more comfortable at the net.”

Sommer doesn’t have a high ranking with the Southern California Tennis Assn. because she hasn’t played in many local tournaments, though she did advance to the third round of this year’s Southern California Sectional in the girls’ 14 division. Next year, Sommer, who turns 15 in September, is hoping to play more local tournaments and maybe even a national tournament.

Until then, she will try to give Los Amigos’ season a happy ending.

And Lewis will try to keep from smiling too much as his team beats up on unsuspecting Garden Grove opponents.

“They’re pretty surprised when they see [Sommer],” he said. “Everybody comments on how lucky I am. I just tell them it’s good coaching.”