The Lake Forest College handball team competed at the Circle City Tournament in Indianapolis over the weekend. Forester senior C.J. Laffey defeated classmate Dan Cordova in the Men's Open Singles final and also teamed with Cordova to win the Open Doubles title.
After leading 20-8 in the second game, Laffey held on for a 21-17, 21-20 victory over Cordova in the Open final. He also knocked off sophomore Anthony Collado 21-5, 21-19 in the semifinals and 2009 Lake Forest College graduate James Zender 21-2, 21-1 in the quarterfinals.
Joining Laffey, Cordova, and Collado in the quarterfinal round were Forester senior Eric Matiasek, junior Matthew Chu, and freshman Juan Canales. All three of them won in the round of 16.
Cordova and Laffey defended their Circle City Open Doubles championship by defeating Collado and Canales 21-11, 21-20 in the final.
Like Laffey on the men's side, Lake Forest senior Amber Craghead appeared in the championship match in Women's Open Singles and Doubles. She was defeated 21-17, 21-12 in the singles final but partnered with junior Christi Valicenti in doubles and they doubled up their two round robin opponents by a combined score of 84-42.
Valicenti was Craghead's opponent in the Open Singles semifinals and Forester junior Lisa Ledvora also reached the semifinal round before falling to the eventual champion. Seniors Caitlyn Shetterley and Amanda Flaxman each posted a victory in the round of 16 before falling to Valicenti and Ledvora, respectively.
Freshmen Rocardo Palma and Max Roberts rattled off four consecutive victories apiece to win the Men's B and C Singles titles, respectively. Junior John Snider was also a semifinalist in the B bracket and freshman Carter Kounovsky in the C division.
Kounovsky and Palma defeated Snider and senior Sam Herrmann in the semifinals of the Men's B Doubles division but fell 11-10 in the tiebreaker of the championship match.
In the women's A Singles bracket, freshman Kyra Vidas edged out junior Marina Alessi 21-20, 19-21, 11-10 in an all Lake Forest final.
Alessi claimed the A Doubles title with Shetterley, coming from behind to prevail 10-21, 21-17, 11-8 in the final.
The Forester men will be back in action in a couple of weeks when Lake Forest hosts the Men's Invitational Doubles February 13-15. The entire team will then close out the season at the United States Handball Association Collegiate National Tournament February 18-22 in Portland, Oregon.
