The Forester handball teams traveled to Indianapolis and competed in the Circle City Tournament over the weekend. Lake Forest senior Sammie Zender claimed the Women's Open Singles and Doubles titles.
It was Zender's second straight Circle City doubles title. This year she partnered with Mikaila Mitchell of Missouri State University and defeated Forester junior Amber Craghead and sophomore Katrine Buur 21-11, 21-7 in the final. She was the top seed in singles and knocked off sophomore Lisa Ledvora 21-4, 21-5 and Craghead 21-4, 21-7 to reach the semifinals, where she posted a 21-16, 21-8 win over Mitchell. Zender then defeated Rachel Fox of the University of Illinois 21-1, 21-13 in the championship match.
In addition to Zender and Craghead, Buur and junior Caitlin Shetterley also reached the quarterfinals, giving Lake Forest half of the field at that point in the tournament. Nine Foresters reached the round of 16, including Ledvora and senior Camila Quinteros, who won first round matches to get there.
Sophomore Christi Valicenti won a pair of matches, including a 31-6 decision over junior Amanda Flaxman in the semifinals, to advance to the Open Consolation final, where she was defeated 21-14, 21-7. Senior Colleen Hosman joined Flaxman and Valicenti in the semifinals.
On the men's side junior Dan Cordova was the event's runner-up, falling to 2011 Lake Forest College graduate and top seed Nik Nahorniak 21-10, 21-4 in the final. Junior C.J. Laffey was the only other Forester to reach the quarterfinals.
Freshman Anthony Collado trailed his opponent 26-13 in the final of the Open Consolation bracket before rallying for a 31-27 victory.
Lake Forest also had the champion in the Men's C Singles Division, where sophomore John Snider won four consecutive matches, including a 21-16, 21-20 decision in the final. He knocked off sophomore Sam Herrmann 21-1, 21-0 in the semifinals and senior Jake Julius 21-19, 21-2 in the quarterfinals.
Cordova and Laffey were the top seeded Open Doubles team and, after dropping the first set in the championship match 21-17, they took the second 21-14 and the tiebreaker 11-7 to claim the title.
Herrmann and sophomore Steve Lee were the runners-up in the C Doubles Division.
The Foresters will compete in the Illinois Handball Association Doubles Tournament next weekend before closing out the season at the United States Handball Association Collegiate National Championships February 20-23.
