Cross Court

SANTA ANA — Kathy Dennis realizes exchange student Morena Jovisic was not attracted to Santa Ana Valley because of her tennis program’s reputation. The Falcons didn’t win a match last year and haven’t had a winning season in more than a decade.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure Morena heard about us over in Europe and decided that’s the place she needed to be,” said Dennis, Santa Ana Valley girls’ coach the last two seasons, with some sarcasm.

But to Jovisic, who grew up playing tennis in war-torn Croatia and initially transferred to a school without a tennis team, Santa Ana Valley seems like paradise.

“I like it here,” said Jovisic, who came to the United States hoping to earn a college tennis scholarship.

She doesn’t mind that Santa Ana Valley went 2-18 this season or that her teammates give her so little competition that she uses boys’ tennis Coach Alvin Alaman as a hitting partner. And though it was hectic, Jovisic didn’t seem bothered that she spent the first six weeks at Santa Ana Valley in five different homes.

One of Jovisic’s five stops was a Santa Ana Valley teacher’s house in Laguna Beach. It was suggested to Jovisic that she could transfer to Laguna Beach, where she could play for a better tennis team and attend a school where she might be more comfortable with the racial makeup.

“I didn’t care about any of that,” Jovisic said. “I want to have a normal life. I don’t care about what color or what religion people are, or what kind of tennis team they have. I’m happy at Valley.”

Jovisic was originally placed at North Hollywood by the exchange program. But North Hollywood does not have a tennis team.

“I was living with this old lady and all I did for a week was sit in my room and lift weights,” Jovisic said. “There was no tennis anywhere.”

Desperate, frustrated and ready to go back home, Jovisic called Antonio Vukorepa, a Croatian water polo player she met before she left her homeland.

“Antonio was at Santa Ana Valley and he said, ‘We have tennis here, why don’t you come?’ ” Jovisic said.

She missed the first four matches while her transcripts and eligibility were straightened out, but now she couldn’t be happier.

“It’s better to be here with a bad team than to be in North Hollywood with no team,” she said.

In just two months, Jovisic has become one of the more popular students on campus.

“She’s tall and athletic looking and she’s got a great personality,” Santa Ana Valley Athletic Director Leon Smith said. “I know we don’t have a great tennis team here, but there’s a lot more to it than the tennis aspects. She’s picking up a lot of cultural things over here and she’s making friends.”

Jovisic is also picking up two languages, English and Spanish. She still has trouble expressing herself in English, but she managed to earn a 3.0 grade-point average in the first grading period. Jovisic is learning some Spanish from her latest host family, the Rubios.

When Jovisic really needs to express herself, she will revert to her first language.

“I’ve seen her get mad at herself on the tennis court, and I think she is swearing at herself in Croatian,” Smith said.

But Jovisic’s outbursts have been rare. Mostly, Jovisic’s opponents are the ones swearing.

She has won 40 of 42 sets this year with both losses coming to Villa Park’s No. 1 player, Katey Becker, by scores of 6-3. Although the Century League is not one of the county’s stronger ones this year, Jovisic still had an incredible season--winning 37 of her 42 sets by 6-0 scores and two others, 6-1. One of her victories came against Villa Park’s talented freshman, Arpi Kojian, 6-4.

Her first high school tennis set lasted 12 minutes.

“She came up to the fence afterward and said, ‘Who’s next, coach?’ ” Dennis said. “I said, ‘Hold on, Morena, you have to wait a few minutes until your next opponent is done.’ ”

Becker, one of the county’s top players the last three years, was impressed with Jovisic’s game.

“She hits the ball hard, maybe as hard as Faye DeVera [a former Villa Park player now at Arizona State],” Becker said. “She’s got a good serve, a really good second-serve kicker, and she likes to volley. She’s an aggressive player. I was able to beat her by hitting cross-courts and mixing it up by hitting down the line. After who she had been playing, I think she was a little bit surprised when I beat her.”

Jovisic will play Kojian today at Ridgeline Tennis Club in Irvine in the Century League singles semifinals. The winner will earn a spot in the Southern Section individual tournament. Jovisic said she will play her typical aggressive style.

“I try to play in the court and at the net, because I think that’s the future of the game,” said Jovisic, 17, who was taught the game by her father.

Jovisic hopes a college scholarship is in her future. But first, she must score well on the Scholastic Assessment Test, which she is cramming for, and then must play well enough to get recognized by college coaches.

There is peace in Croatia now--her grandmother’s house was destroyed by Serbian terrorists during the war--but Jovisic said she hopes to delay her return to Croatia.

“If I get a scholarship, I’ll finish school here,” Jovisic said. “I’m very happy here.”