After Brief Stop, Gomez On the Go : Tennis: Rosary’s No. 2 singles player, who is 12-0 this season as a senior, regains her motivation to play after taking some time off.

By the time Mandy Gomez reached school Thursday morning, she knew it was too late in more ways than one.

She was late for her 7 a.m. class at Rosary High and too late to avoid the backlash that would keep her from playing for the Royals’ tennis team in a league match against Santa Ana that afternoon.

“I got detention,” said Gomez, Rosary’s No. 2 singles player. “They don’t give me any breaks just because I play tennis. Now I’m going to start running to classes instead of walking.”

That would lower the stress level considerably for her coach, Dick Fumanti. The Royals didn’t need Gomez to defeat Santa Ana, 14-4, and improve their record to 4-1, 1-0 in league. But they must have her to challenge for the Sunset League title--where Rosary was placed after the Angelus League was disbanded at the end of the 1991-92 school year--and a berth in the Southern Section Division II playoffs.

Gomez, who is 12-0 this season as a senior and 101-16 since her freshman year, has been one of the county’s leading junior players since her early teens. She was ranked in the top 20 in the 14-and-under division in Southern California by the United States Tennis Assn. and in the top 25 in the 16-and-under.

But that was before she lost interest in tennis last year and barely found enough motivation to play for the Royals last season.

“I got kind of burned out,” said Gomez, who hasn’t played in a junior tournament in more than a year and is no longer ranked. “It wasn’t fun anymore. I didn’t really care about tennis. I would just go out there because I was on the team. I was having some personal problems at the time and I didn’t concentrate on schoolwork or anything, and tennis just added to it.”

Her lack of desire showed on the court, too, even though she still had a 41-10 record and helped Rosary win its second consecutive Angelus League title and reach the section Division 2-A championship match. Gomez, who laughs easily and describes herself as someone who usually goes with the flow, was too nonchalant even by her standards. And she knew it.

“I lost a lot of (sets) last year that I would have won in my freshman and sophomore years,” Gomez said. “It upset my dad (Raul) and Coach Fumanti more than anyone else. I just kind of blew it off.”

Gomez said none of the losses bothered her much except when she dropped a 7-5 set to Susan Huberman of Los Alamitos in the 2-A title match, which was won by the Griffins, 12-6. She won her other two sets that day but wanted to sweep to satisfy her own agenda. It was the first time all season Gomez was totally focused on tennis.

“When I lost to Huberman, it was really upsetting,” Gomez said. “I really wanted to win that set and I wanted to beat Los Al. We tied them (9-9, 68-68 on games) in a (nonleague) match during the season and they never gave us any respect. All we heard about before the finals was how bad they had played against us before.”

Maybe that defeat was the initial spark that primed Gomez for a turnabout. She said the more she was away from tennis, the more she missed it. And the inactivity also produced some undesired side effects.

“Right after the season ended I hardly played,” said Gomez, who lives in Santa Ana with her parents and a brother. She also has one sister and two other brothers. “Then I felt lazy after a while. I would go home and watch TV and I was gaining weight, so I decided to go play again.”

Not a moment too soon for Fumanti, who is now in his fifth year of coaching the team at the all-girls’ school. He also coaches in the spring at Servite, an all-boys’ school.

“She’s back and rejuvenated,” Fumanti said. “She was my No. 1 singles player as a freshman but has played mostly No. 2 the last two years. But I see she has the fire in her again. She likes to win. She’s given up only three games in her 12 wins.”

Gomez says her status on the squad is inconsequential, as long as she gets to play. Senior Joyce Cruz is the team’s No. 1 singles player but the way Gomez sees it, regardless of whether you are considered the top player or No. 3 singles, the individual opponents during team matches are the same for the three singles players. The same holds true for the doubles teams.

“We (Rosary players) play the same people. It doesn’t matter if you’re No. 1 or No. 2,” Gomez said. “My mom (Madeline) is more into it. It’s nothing that keeps me up nights.”

The rekindled interest in tennis is also paying dividends for Gomez, who sees the results on the court. She plans to enter junior tournaments this year and is even talking about playing in college next year. Those were thoughts that hardly crossed her mind last season.

“I’m more enthusiastic about it,” she said. “I’m enjoying matches. It doesn’t seem like a job to me anymore.”