Boys tennis: Glenbard South finds nourishment in victory vs. Willowbrook

Omar Qurram was in his zone.

The sophomore No. 2 singles player on the Glenbard South boys tennis team was so fixated on studying for his math test, that he completely forgot to use his lunch period to do what he's supposed to do: eat.

"Sometimes when I'm studying for a test, I don't focus on eating, I'm more focused on studying," Qurram said. "I only ate a granola bar for lunch."

It nearly affected him in his matchup against Willowbrook's Ben Cavka.

"I had to study, so I wasn't eating, so I came out here and I was like fatigued," Qurram said. "Usually my hunger gets me cranky and I start yelling and getting under control and it affects everything."

Luckily for Qurram and the Raiders, he composed himself and beat Cavka 6-3, 7-6. Glenbard South beat Willowbrook 5-2.

It wasn't the first time Qurram has been fatigued because he forgot to eat.

"It's been that way for two years," Glenbard South coach Mark Conrad said. "That's why I keep snacks, specifically for him, in my bag. He digs into the bag when he needs something."

Cavka, who is a close friend of Qurram, rallied in the first set to make it 4-3, before Qurram closed the set out. In the second set Cavka led 5-4 and Qurram's frustration kicked in, yelling at himself after each mistake.

Conrad has given Qurram a "terrible towel" to use when he becomes frustrated with himself on the court. When Qurram is upset with himself, he grabs the towel and yells into it or bites down on it.

Monday, Qurram calmed himself by sitting down in the shade between points and talking to himself.

"On the changeovers I just sit down, I have a nice little shade spot and I just think to myself, like, 'Come on, you can be a dominant player if you really keep your head in the game,'" Qurram said. "And it started to work for me."

Qurram closed the set 7-6 to pick up the win. But don't expect him to trash talk or tease Cavka.

"I'm going to be nice about it because I respect him a lot," Qurram said.

At No. 1 singles Glenbard South's Alex Bergendorf beat Drake DelValle 6-0, 6-3.

"I kept to my playing style, which is fight to the end," Bergendorf said. "It's always a satisfying feeling to win after struggling through a match."

DelValle made things interesting in the second set. Trailing 5-0, DelValle rallied to make it 5-3.

"I had to be more of a defensive player, I was too much of an offensive player in the first set," DelValle said. "I found my rhythm pretty late in the game."

It proved to be a learning experience for DelValle.

"The way I finished made me really like this match," DelValle said. "At the end of the match, I went up to him and said, 'Thanks for kicking my butt, it really brought me out.'"

Glenbard South's Deven Kinch beat Mark Lobdell 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a three-set thriller at No. 3 singles, the last match to finish.

The No. 1 Glenbard South doubles team of Greg Kozlick and Cooper Reif beat Kiran Pentella and Abdullah Kaludi 6-1, 6-3. The No. 3 Raiders doubles team of Andrew Fortes and Ian Johnson beat Anmar Waheed and Logan Bliss 6-4, 6-2.

"My (No. 1) doubles played really well, minimized their mistakes," Conrad said. "Overall, a win. I knew they were going to be tough."

Willowbrook's Joe Garner picked up a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jack Hurst at No. 4 singles and the No. 2 doubles team of Taha Aktar and Steve Cerda beat Ryan Harrington and Jakob Jaquinde 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

"All of these cancellations, we literally get bunched up a little bit and that's what's hitting us, it's a bunch of matches," Willowbrook coach Eddie De La Cruz, whose team has matches Monday through Thursday, said. "I see a little bit of tired legs, especially with my guys in serving. Serving definitely let us down today.

"Both schools could've easily won 5-2, 6-1 today, it was just every single match was definitely a battle."