Pedro a leader for CdM

Corona del Mar High boys’ tennis coach Jamie Gresh was on an airplane to Hawaii late last August.

Just before the plane took off, Gresh received two text messages that would end up changing the fate of this spring’s boys’ tennis season for the Sea Kings.

One text was from senior Bjorn Hoffmann, telling Gresh that Pedro Fernandez del Valle was coming back to the team. The second was from Fernandez del Valle himself, confirming the news.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool,’” Gresh said.

Pretty cool indeed for the Sea Kings, who got not only Pedro Fernandez del Valle but his sophomore brother, Diego, as well. Both were instrumental players down the stretch for CdM, which advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and, last weekend, won its first CIF USTA Southern California Regional title at The Claremont Club.

The season continues for Pedro. He and Hoffmann, CdM’s two senior co-captains, will be in action at the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament. Both have qualified for the round of 16, which is set to begin Friday at 11:30 a.m. at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

Much has been written about Hoffmann, and for good reason. The Cal signee was an Ojai singles finalist the last two years and has been a rock for the Sea Kings the last three years at No. 1 singles. But this year, Hoffmann and Pedro Fernandez del Valle were more of a “1A” and “1B” than anything else.

The University of Denver-bound Fernandez del Valle made the most of his senior year, with a 45-6 record in the regular season. He was then a perfect 12-0 during the Sea Kings’ run in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, and won three of four matches in the Southern California Regionals.

More than that, his leadership abilities stood out. It was a close team, Gresh said the closest in his four years at CdM, and the senior co-captains were a big reason why.

“Bjorn and I did our best to include everybody in activities, such as going to the beach together as a team, having lunch as a team,” Fernandez del Valle said. “I think that’s what made our team so powerful, so close, and I think that helped us a lot to get where we got.

“Nobody was going to throw a match becuase they were not feeling well that day, nobody was going to throw a match even if they were losing 5-0. They were always going to fight for that point, just because they knew that the team was there for them ... Everybody was fully committed to the program.”

Pedro Fernandez del Valle certainly was, even if he’s had an interesting road to this point. He grew up close to a beach, too, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he lived with Diego and his parents, Pedro Sr. and Charlotte Moreno. In Mexico, of course, soccer is king, athough Pedro had a tennis background. His mom played at USC and his uncle, Agustin Moreno, won Wimbledon junior doubles in 1985 and played at Pepperdine.

Opportunities were fairly limited, though, in Puerto Vallarta.

“It’s hard to find good coaches in Mexico, becuase it’s not a very popular sport,” Pedro Fernandez del Valle said. “At the beginning, it was kind of hard to find good tennis players in the area ... I’d have to drive four hours on the weekends to go play the national tournaments [in Guadalajara].”

That changed when he hit seventh grade. First, Pedro went to Spain for a year to train. Then, he came to Newport Beach, where he played in doubles for CdM as a freshman. That team, led by senior Alec Adamson (now at UC Davis), made the 2013 Division 1 title match before falling to league rival University.

But the Fernandez del Valle family then left Newport Beach for Tampa, Florida. Uncle Agustin, who then coached at the University of South Florida, was opening an academy. Pedro traveled the world playing in ITF tournaments, and he was part of two state championship teams at Wiregrass Ranch High in Florida as a sophomore and junior. But, with the academy “kind of breaking down” last summer, as Fernandez del Valle put it, he had a choice.

“My parents asked me, ‘What do you want to do? Do you want to stay here and ride it out your senior year, or do you want to come back to Newport Beach?’” Fernandez del Valle said. “I decided to come back to Newport Beach. I had always stayed in contact with Coach Jamie, asking how they were doing, stayed in contact with Bjorn.”

The family is now in California. Agustin is the head women’s tennis coach at Loyola Marymount, where he will coach CdM senior Siena Sharf next year. The exception is Pedro Sr., who remains in Mexico for work as a civil engineer and real estate developer.

He visits when he can. He will watch his son play this weekend in CIF Individuals. Then, in a matter of weeks, it will be off to Denver for the younger Pedro.

“I’ve always lived in hot areas,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting. I guess as long as I’m wearing a nice coat, everything’s going to be all right.”

First, there is the two-day CIF Individuals tournament to close out his high school career. Hoffmann, the Pacific Coast League singles champion who advanced to the CIF Individuals quarterfinals last year, has championship aspirations this season. But don’t count out Fernandez del Valle, either.

“He’s playing better tennis now than he was in March and early April,” Gresh said. “He’s gotten a lot of good, compettiive sets and matches under his belt. He’s playing smarter and his shot selection is a lot cleaner.”

Which Sea King senior will advance further in the draw? That could be up for debate.

“[His chances are] great,” Hoffmann said. “Just as good as mine, I guess. I don’t know. We’ll be on opposite sides of the draw, so I don’t have to take him out. But yeah, I think the world of Pedro. I’ve practiced with him long enough to know how good he is. I’ll be supporting him the whole way through, and I look forward to it.”