The Lake Forest College handball team competed at the United States Handball Association Collegiate National Championships at Arizona State University over the weekend. The Foresters defended their men's and combined team titles and the women placed second.
Senior Isaac Acosta and sophomore C.J. Laffey also defended their title in the Men's Open Doubles division, edging out their opponents 21-13, 10-21, 11-10 in the championship match. Freshman Dan Cordova and sophomore Eric Matiasek reached the bracket's semifinal round and seniors Geoff Douglas and Pete Jansen advanced to the quarterfinals.
Senior Amalia DeSardi and junior Sammie Zender also earned Handball All-America honors with a runner-up finish in Women's Open Doubles. It was DeSardi's second straight second-place finish and the first career All-America accolade for Zender.
Lake Forest was also well-represented in the Men's Open Singles Division, where Cordova defeated Laffey 21-13, 21-16 in the semifinals before falling by the same score in the championship. Acosta also advanced to the semifinals before being eliminated by the eventual champion. The four semifinalists earn Handball All-America honors, a feat Acosta has now accomplished three years in a row.
Zender was the top finisher in the Women's Open Singles competition. She reached the quarterfinals before meeting up with the eventual champion that she and DeSardi defeated in Open Doubles.
Freshman Matthew Chu defeated Jansen 21-9, 21-12 to advance to the semifinals of the Men's A Singles Division. Senior Justin Novak joined Chu and Jansen in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Josh Poncedeleon recorded a hard-fought 21-19, 21-15 triumph in the Men's Division 2 A bracket before falling in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Rick Arko and junior Jake Julius competed in the Men's Division 2 C competition. Arko was the bracket's runner-up and Julius reached the quarterfinals.
On the women's side, freshmen Christi Valicenti and Katrine Buur recorded narrow victories to reach the B Division quarterfinals.
Sophomore Amber Craghead claimed the C Divison title with a 21-17, 21-16 victory in the final. Junior Colleen Hosman advanced to the bracket's quarterfinal round.
Freshman Emily Rabin won the first set before falling in the second and the tiebreaker in the championship of the Women's Division 2 B competition. Junior Lissette Cortez advanced to the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion.
With Acosta, Laffey, and Cordova earning All-America honors on the men's side and DeSardi and Zender on the women's, Lake Forest had five of the 12 players to earn the honor this season. The Foresters' men's and combined titles were their fifth in a row and the program's women's team title streak ended at four.
Additional honors were earned by Cordova (Sportsmanship Award) and Chu (John Sabo Scholarship). Those awards were presented Saturday night.
Lake Forest Head Coach Mike Dau has now captured 44 team championships (18 men's, 16 combined, 10 women's) since he started the program in 1968. Coach Dau was unable to make the trip to Arizona this season due to an injury so Forester Head Volleyball Coach Heather Noll and Athletic Programing Coordinator Blake Theisen helped direct the team.
DeSardi is the women's team's only senior. The men will lose Acosta, Douglas, Jansen, Novak, and Clark Creasey to graduation this May.
