Naperville North's Zhang turns the tables

For Gordon Zhang it was bigger than a first-singles match victory or a conference championship.

The Naperville North sophomore's 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) win over two-time DuPage Valley Conference champion Jimmy Li of Wheaton Warrenville South in Saturday's DVC finals represented a major hurdle.

"This was a mental barrier because Jimmy keeps beating me," Zhang said. "Now that I passed that, I know I can do anything."

Li had defeated Zhang in four previous matches in high school varsity competition.

"Gordon kept his cool," said Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen. "He knew what he had to do to win the match."

"My forehand was doing well down the line," Zhang said. "And my backhand slice was really effective. But changing pace was the key."

"He won because he deserved it more than I did," Li said. "He outfought me in the first set. I had the right attitude in the second set, but Gordon elevated his game in the tiebreaker."

Despite championship victories by Zhang and by second and third singles Aniket Patil and Marc Deetjen, the defending champion Huskies were unable to repeat as DVC champions. The title went to the Naperville Central Redhawks, who outscored the Huskies 63-60 for the season and tournament combined.

Both teams scored 17 points in the tournament, with the Redhawks winning individual championships at all three doubles and at fourth singles.

Naperville Central also won the DVC in 2008.

"Our team played big in big matches this year," said Naperville Central coach Dan Brown. "We knew Naperville North was going to be tough. Our teams were close at every position and it could have gone either way in our dual meet and in this tournament. Our kids are very excited about taking back the DVC championship."

The Huskies' 5-2 win in the dual meet turned out to be the margin of victory for the conference title.

Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South finished tied for third place in Saturday's conference tournament with 33 points, and Glenbard North was fifth with 32.

Leading the Redhawks' doubles sweep was first-doubles Kevin Bauman and Billy Sterrett, who defeated Naperville North's Elliot Giraud and Reid Mutschler for the third time in their three meetings this year 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

The match featured a dramatic comeback as the Redhawks scored the final 5 points in the first-set tiebreaker.

"We've gotten to the point that we know that we can win if we just keep our heads," Bauman said.

"We're getting better about talking to each other and just keeping each other level and calm," Sterrett said.

Second doubles Mark Bicek and Neel Kunjur and third doubles Gautham Bala and Brian Chiou also won DVC championships.

For Bala and Chiou it marked the second year in a row they went undefeated at 10-0 in the DVC.

The Redhawks only singles championship was won by junior fourth-singles Mike Mihailescu, who defeated Naperville North's Kevin Huang 6-3, 6-3 in the finals.

"This is the hardest working team and the hardest-fighting team I've had since I started coaching here," Brown said. "They set goals for themselves at the beginning of the year and did everything they needed to do to accomplish those goals."