The Lake Forest College handball team competed in the United States Handball Association Collegiate National Championships at North Carolina State University over the weekend. The Foresters captured the men's and combined team titles for the sixth straight season and placed second in the women's standings. Juniors Dan Cordova and C.J. Laffey won the Open Doubles championship and Cordova was the runner-up in singles.
Cordova and Laffey prevailed 21-18, 21-13 in the championship match after outscoring their opponents 84-31 in the previous two rounds combined. It was the third straight national title in Open Doubles for Laffey, who won the last two seasons with 2013 graduate Isaac Acosta.
Cordova also made it to the championship match in Open Singles but was defeated 21-11, 21-10 and had to settle for his third straight runner-up finish.
In addition to Laffey and Cordova, seniors Sammie Zander and Aimee Fadden also earned Handball All-America honors by virtue of reaching the Open Doubles championship match. They came from behind for a 17-21, 21-11, 11-6 victory in the semifinals.
Laffey was also a quarterfinalist in Open Singles and freshman Anthony Collado claimed ninth place. In addition, sophomores Matthew Chu and John Snider advanced to the semifinals in Division I and Division II A Singles, respectively.
Snider teamed with junior Rick Arko on a runner-up finish in B Doubles. They posted a tiebreaker victory in the quarterfinals and fell in a tiebreaker in the championship match. Junior Sam Herrman and sophomore Steve Lee reached the bracket's round of 16.
After falling in the Women's Open Singles round of 16, Zender won three matches in a row to claim ninth place. Junior Amber Craghead recorded three consecutive victories in A Singles, including a quarterfinal win over sophomore Christi Valicenti, before falling in the final. Junior Amanda Flaxman and sophomore Marina Alessi were quarterfinalists in B Singles and senior Colleen Hosman accomplished the same feat in C Singles.
Craghead and sophomore Katrine Buur joined Zender and Fadden in the Open Doubles semifinals before also falling to the eventual champions. Valicenti and fellow sophomore Lisa Ledvora knocked off a pair of opponents to reach the final in A Doubles.
More than 240 players and 40 teams from the United States, Canada, and Ireland competed in this year's tournament with the Forester men and Missouri State University women claiming the Division I titles. Minnesota State University, Mankato was the runner-up on the men's side and finished third in the women's and combined team standings. The University of Texas placed third in the men's competition and Ireland's University of Limerick was second in the combined standings.
The men's championship is the Foresters' 12th in the last 17 years and 19th in program history. Lake Forest has now finished first in the combined team standings 12 times in the last 15 seasons and 17 times since that category began in 1981. The team has also claimed 10 women's titles for 46 championships overall, all under the direction of head coach Mike Dau '58.
