“It’s great,” said Korber, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High. “It shows that my hard work’s finally paying off.”
Make no mistake, Korber has been working hard for quite some time. It showed in the first set Friday, when the No. 3 seed “bageled” his unseeded opponent from Huntington Beach.
Glore was still confident he could come back, like he did in the semifinals against another CdM player, Ryan Peyton. The incoming Marina High junior lost the first set to Peyton, 6-2, but came back to win a tight three-setter.
“I’m always so nervous,” Glore said. “But sometimes I play better when I’m nervous.”
Yet it was Korber who shined in the big moments, to the delight of a pro-CdM crowd including Kelli Feeley, Chris Damion and former boys’ coach Tim Mang. His 4-1 lead in the second set evaporated but he held on in the end.
Part of the stepping up involved stepping into some big forehands; footwork has been a key in his improvement.
“It’s a lot better than it used to be,” Korber said of his positioning on the court, also crediting his training with his private coach, Mike Saunders.
The 18s singles win finished a dominant run for Korber, who lost a three-set match in the 16s semifinals last year at the tournament better known as the “War by the Shore.”
This year, the only close call was a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory over No. 6-seeded Ahdiv Nathan of Rancho Santa Margarita in the quarterfinals.
“That was grueling,” Korber said. “We pretty much held the entire match. At 5-all in the third set, he broke me, and I had to break back to send it into a tiebreaker and I did and gutted it out.
