The Lake Forest College handball team competed at the Circle City Tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana, over the weekend. Forester senior Nikolai Nahorniak won both the Open Singles and Open Doubles titles.
Nahorniak avenged his Illinois handball Association (I.H.A.) Singles Tournament championship match loss to 2010 graduate Suhn Lee by defeating Lee 21-13, 12-21, 11-5 in the Open Singles final on Sunday. He also teamed with fellow senior Victor Perez to defeat Forester senior Pat Jarvis and sophomore Isaac Acosta 21-14, 21-6 in the Open Doubles title match.
Jarvis and Perez each posted a quarterfinal victory before falling to Nahorniak and Lee, respectively.
The Foresters were represented in the final of each of the seven brackets at the event. The only one they did not win was the Men's A Singles, where junior Riley Kloss fell 21-14, 14-21, 11-4. Classmate Dan Sterrett reached the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion. Kloss and Sterrett also teamed up for an Open Doubles victory before falling to Nahorniak and Perez.
Freshman Samantha Zender prevailed four times to win the Women's A Singles title. She defeated sophomore Amalia DeSardi 20-21, 21-12, 11-6 in the final. Freshman Nicole Stroner and seniors Bianca Greene and Sheila Connolly each won in the round of 16 before falling in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Derrick Contreras also rattled off four straight victories, including a 21-17, 13-21, 11-7 triumph in the final, to claim the Men's B Division championship. Junior Maria Dugas and sophomores Clark Creasey and Geoff Douglas reached the bracket's quarterfinal round.
Senior Emma Swanson and junior Ann Szutenbach defeated Greene and Zender 21-8, 21-5 to capture the Women's A Doubles championship. Stroner and freshman Aimee Fadden posted a victory before falling to the eventual champs in the semifinals. DeSardi and Connolly also won once before being eliminated in the semifinals by the runners-up.
Contreras and Creasey teamed up for three wins and the title in Men's B Doubles. They defeated Douglas and sophomore Justin Novak to advance to the final. Dugas and freshman Sandy Ng also reached the semifinal round.
The Foresters' next event will be the I.H.A. Doubles Tournament in Des Plaines, Illinois, February 10-13.
