| Lake Forest College Sports Information
February 24, 2008 Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID Forester Men and Women Place Second at U.S.H.A. Collegiate Nationals
Sophomores Suhn Lee (Glenview, Ill.) and Aimee Ulbert (Des Plaines, Ill.) earned All-America honors in singles by advancing to the Open Singles semifinals. Lee posted a dramatic 21-11, 13-21, 11-9 triumph in the quarterfinals before falling 21-12, 21-15 to the eventual runner-up. Ulbert overcame injury to win 21-13, 21-17 in the quarterfinals but dropped a 16-21, 21-4, 11-8 semifinal battle, also to the runner-up. Both players would also have been named All-America for their performance in Open Doubles. Lee and junior Jon Iglesias (Elmhurst, Ill.), the defending national champions, won twice before being knocked off 21-12, 21-6 in the finals. Ulbert teamed with fellow sophomore Emily Zender (Fishers, Ind.) for a convincing 21-9, 21-6 victory in the semifinals before falling 21-12, 21-12 in the championship match. Iglesias was defeated in the men’s Open Singles round of 16 but came back to place ninth in the tourney. Senior Carly Stickles (Ridgeway, Ont.) reached the Open Singles quarterfinals and eventually placed sixth at the event. Freshman Nikolai Nahorniak (Elk Grove, Ill.) led a trio of Lake Forest men who competed in A Singles. He rattled off five consecutive victories, including a 21-13, 21-4 triumph in the finals. Fellow freshman Victor Perez (Los Angeles, Calif.) won four in a row, including a tiebreak in the round of 16, and reached the semifinals before being eliminated. Senior Mike Mehilos (Addison, Ill.) was knocked off in the round of 16. On the women’s side Zender won her first round A Singles match before falling in the quarterfinals. Senior Kevin Jarvis (Chicago, Ill.) was the only Forester to win in the first round of the Men’s B Singles. He outlasted his opponent 21-11, 18-21, 11-6 before falling 21-20, 21-14 in the round of 16. Junior James Zender (Fishers, Ind.) prevailed in a pair of preliminary matches and senior Tom Pfeil (Philadelphia, Pa.) and sophomores Brian Connolly (Lemont, Ill.) and Joey Urbani (Bozeman, Mont.) each won once to reach the B Division’s first round. Senior Kim Braden (Beloit, Wis.) and junior Alex Charron (Calgary, Alb.) were both defeated in the first round of the women’s B Singles. Charron had posted a pair of victories and Braden one to be placed in the division. Junior Hannah Michal (Lake Villa, Ill.) and freshman Sarah Brusig (Rifle, Colo.) each won her preliminary match to reach the women’s C Singles bracket. Michal also posted a 19-21, 21-5, 11-5 victory in the division’s first round before falling 21-13, 21-18 in the quarterfinals. Juniors Mike Carpenter (St. Peters, Mo.), Kushal Modi (North Little Rock, Ark.), and Asa Reynolds (Bethesda, Md.) each won a pair of preliminary matches before being placed in the men’s Intermediate division, where they each posted at least three more victories to reach the semifinals. At that point Modi fell 21-15, 21-19 and Carpenter defeated Reynolds 21-9, 21-7. Carpenter also went on to prevail 21-10, 21-6 in the championship match. Freshman Nicole Moser (Oak Lawn, Ill.) also needed two victories to reach the women’s Intermediate bracket, where she won in the first round but fell in the quarterfinals. Senior Tom Cirone (Chicago, Ill.) defeated freshman Pat Jarvis (Chicago, Ill.) 21-18, 21-17 in the championship match of the men’s Challengers division. Both had won six straight matches to reach that point. Freshman Ayal Sharvit (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) rattled off three wins in a row before falling 18-21, 21-10, 11-10 in the quarterfinals. Sophomore Viri Del Bosque (Rockford, Ill.) and freshman Jaclyn Selestow (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) won twice to reach the women’s Challengers division but fell in the bracket’s opening round. Freshman Bianca Greene (Santa Monica, Calif.) triumphed in one of two preliminary matches and was placed in the women’s Contenders division, where she won three more times to claim the title. Finally, junior Chris Bembynista (Overland Park, Kan.) had his streak of four consecutive victories end in the championship match of the men’s Novice division. Nahorniak and Perez teamed up for a pair of victories in men’s Open Doubles before falling 21-16, 21-20 to the eventual champions in the semifinals. Stickles and fellow senior Jessica Birecki (Andover, Mass.) also won twice in women’s Open Doubles play before falling to Ulbert and Zender in the semifinals. Pfeil and Urbani won four straight matches to win the men’s B Doubles title. The championship match was nearly as close as mathematically possible, with the Forester pair prevailing 21-19, 18-21, 11-9. Zender and Reynolds also won in the division’s first round before falling in the quarterfinals. Forester players combined to win 93 matches while losing just 49 at the event. The men’s team will lose Cirone, Kevin Jarvis, Mehilos, and Pfeil to graduation in May. Birecki, Braden, and Stickles are set to graduate from the women’s team.
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