A pair of Forester handball players captured divisional titles and three others reached semifinal rounds at the Illinois Handball Association Singles Tournament over the weekend (January 14-17).
Junior Nikolai Nahorniak (Elk Grove, Ill.) was Lake Forest's top finisher in the Open division. The tournament's #2 seed won a pair of matches before falling 21-18, 21-12 in the semifinals. Senior and top seed Suhn Lee (Glenview, Ill.) posted a convincing 21-1, 21-0 victory in the round of 16 before being upset 13-21, 21-11, 11-4 in the quarterfinals. Junior Victor Perez (Los Angeles, Calif.), seeded 12th in the event, recorded a pair of victories, including one over the #5 seed in the round of 16 before being eliminated by the eventual champion in the quarterfinals.
Junior Pat Jarvis (Chicago, Ill.) was defeated in the Open division's first round but rebounded with three consecutive triumphs to claim the A Division title. He dropped the first game of his quarterfinal match but outscored his opponents 116-51 the rest of the way.
Lake Forest also took home the title in the B Division where sophomore Riley Kloss (Mt. Prospect, Ill.) rattled off four victories in a row, including a 21-10, 21-17 decision in the final. Freshman Isaac Acosta (Ozone Park, N.Y.) also reached the bracket's semifinals before suffering a narrow 21-20, 21-17 defeat. Seniors Brian Connolly (Lemont, Ill.) and Joey Urbani (Bozeman, Mont.) advanced to the quarterfinals and round of 32 victories were posted by senior Aimee Ulbert (Des Plaines, Ill.), sophomore Maria Dugas (Halifax, Nova Scotia), and freshman Derrick Contreras (Des Plaines, Ill.). Ulbert fell to Kloss, Dugas to Urbani, and Contreras to the bracket's top seed in the round of 16.
Senior Emily Zender (Fishers, Ind.) and freshman Clark Creasey (Lexington, Ky.) dropped down to the C Division where they each won once. Creasey's victory came in the round of 16 while Zender, who had a bye, triumphed in the quarterfinals.
The next event on Lake Forest's schedule is the Circle City Tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana, in two weekends (January 29-31).