Junior Kyra Vidas earned a spot in the Women's Open Singles bracket on Thursday with a victory in her first match of the 2017 United States Handball Association National Collegiate Championships.
Vidas, the ninth-seeded player at the event, came from behind to win 16-21, 21-15, 11-9 to reach the Open Division for the first time in her career. She will play a pair of matches on Friday.
The Foresters' next four players in terms of seed split their matches on Friday. Senior Sophia Goss came out on top of a 21-16, 21-17 decision in the 33-48 division while juniors Bethany Fyffe and Frankie Corrado fell in that round. Goss then fell in the A1/A2 division while Fyffe and Corrado prevailed in A2/B1. All three players will begin play in the A2 bracket on Friday. Seeded in the 49-64 division, sophomore Quinn Matuschek edged out her opponent 21-19, 19-21, 11-5 in her first match but fell in the next, setting her up in the B1 bracket.
Lake Forest freshmen Madison Drake and Annabeth Gibbons were defeated in both of their preliminary matches and will compete in the B2 Division. Classmate Marketa Riley also suffered her second defeat of the tournament and will begin play in the C1 bracket on Friday.
The majority of the Lake Forest men played their second preliminary match on Thursday and also had mixed results.
Junior Ricardo Palma was unable to come up with his second straight victory and join senior Anthony Collado and junior Leo Canales in the Open bracket. He will begin play as the top seed in the A1 Division on Friday.
Freshman Chandler Straw and juniors Max Roberts and Carter Kounovsky posted victories played in the A1/A2 division on Thursday with Roberts posting a 21-13, 21-10 victory and the other two falling in close matches. Roberts will join Palma in A1 while Kounovsky and Straw will compete in the A2 bracket.
After falling on Wednesday, sophomores Xavier Higa and David Carrillo prevailed on Thursday to earn spots in the B1 and C1 divisions, respectively. Junior Steve Lee is also 1-1 on the week and will compete in C2 while freshman Brandon Sanchez and sophomore Carter Ostrander will be in the C3 bracket.
The round of 16 in doubles was also played on Thursday with the Foresters posting a pair of victories. Palma and Kounovsky prevailed 21-0, 21-2 in the Open division while Roberts and Straw advanced 21-5, 21-0 in the A bracket. Vargas and Higa suffered a narrow 21-19, 21-20 loss and were eliminated in the A division.
Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches in each singles bracket will be played on Friday, the semifinals on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. The quarterfinals and semifinals in doubles will also occur on Saturday with the finals on Sunday.
National Collegiate Championships on USHA Website
Wednesday's Recap | Friday's Recap | Saturday's Recap | Sunday's Recap
