Juniors Leo Canales and Kyra Vidas clinched spots among the top four American players at the United States Handball Association National Collegiate Championships on Saturday to earn Handball All-America status.
Canales won his Open Singles semifinal contest 21-14, 21-13 to advance to Sunday's championship match. Canales, the tournament's seventh-seeded player, had upset the #2 seed on Friday and eliminated the #6 seed on Saturday. The top seed at the event will be his opponent in Sunday's final.
Vidas prevailed 21-6, 21-6 on Saturday to reach the final of the Open Singles 9-16 bracket. She also earned a spot among the top four American players in the event to be named Handball All-America for the first time in her career.
Two other Foresters reached the final in their respective bracket with victories on Saturday. Junior Ricardo Palma won 21-10, 21-8 in the Men's A1 Singles semifinals and freshman Market Riley came out on top of a 21-14, 20-21, 11-4 decision in the Women's C1 Singles division.
Junior Carter Kounovsky's run in the Men's A2 Singles bracket came to an end on Saturday and freshman Annabeth Gibbons was finally eliminated in the Women's B2 semifinals.
Saturday also featured quarterfinal and semifinal play in doubles. In the Men's Open division Canales and senior Anthony Collado posted a 21-14, 21-10 victory in their first match of the day before being edged out 21-20, 21-18 in the second. Palma and Kounovsky, who won in the round of 16 on Thursday, were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the same pair who eventually defeated Canales and Collado.
Junior Max Roberts teamed up with freshman Chandler Straw to make a run in Men's A Doubles. After winning surrendering just five points in their round of 16 win on Thuesday they dropped just eight in Saturday morning's quarterfinals. They ended up winning more points than their semifinal opponents but were defeated 21-19, 14-21, 11-10.
Vidas and senior Sophia Goss were the only Forester team in the Women's Open bracket and, like their male teammates, prevailed in the quarterfinals (21-20, 21-15) before falling in the semifinals (21-3, 21-9).
As a team the Forester men secured second place at the tournament on Saturday while the women had already clinched fourth. Lake Forest also finished third in the combined team standings.
National Collegiate Championships on USHA Website
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