Lake Forest Sweeps All Three National Handball Titles; Women Win First-Ever
Mehilos siblings, Bill and Megan, named All-Americans in both singles and doubles

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - There is not much that Lake Forest College Head Coach Mike Dau and his Forester handball teams have not accomplished in their storied history. So it was not a surprise that the Foresters won the school's 17th, 18th, and 19th national titles in the program's history, but it was the first time in school history that Lake Forest won all three national handball titles in the same year. They claimed the men's, women's, and combined titles at the United States Handball Association Intercollegiate Tournament, which were hosted by University of Minnesota this season. Lake Forest joined Southwest Missouri State University as the only school to accomplish such a three-peat. SMSU has done so three times.

It was also the first time the Foresters have won the women's championship and the titles were the 17th, 18th, and 19th in school history, all under Dau, who added, "It was an exciting experience for all of us to bring home all three titles. Our goal was clearly set to do just that. Needless to say, we are already fired up about repeating."

The Mehilos siblings, Bill and Megan, from Addison, IL, were named All-Americans in both singles and doubles and two of a school-record six Foresters to be deemed All-Americans. In order to be named an All-American, one must qualify for the semifinals in singles or finals for doubles. The Mehilos combo was joined by Samantha England (Prince Grove, British Columbia), Erika Sove (Modesto, CA), Leslie Boyle (Chicago Heights, IL), and Mike Munson (Williston, VT).

Freshman Megan Mehilos, who ".dominated the field," according to Dau, became the first Lake Forest freshman woman to win both the Open singles and Open doubles title in the same season and the first Forester woman to win the Open singles title since Jennifer Roberts in 1991.

From her top-seeded position, Mehilos breezed through her bracket in impressive fashion by winning all her matches in the minimum of two games. In her first three matches, she recorded four shutout games and allowed a total of just four points. In the semifinals, Mehilos bested teammate England, 21-7, 21-3. Mehilos then knocked off second-seeded Lynn Alesi from Texas A&M, 21-12, 21-7. "Megan's power and conditioning really showed in the finals as she simply overpowered Lynn," according to Dau.

Mehilos paired with Sove in the doubles tournament to claim her second national title. It was the first doubles title for both Sove and Mehilos. Sove finally broke through after advancing to the doubles finals each of the previous two seasons with partner Sabrina Zamora '00. 

In this year's all-Lake Forest final, Mehilos and Sove beat Boyle and England, 21-7, 21-16.

Munson and Bill Mehilos became the third and fourth Lake Forest athletes to win Open titles when the duo won in doubles. It was the second straight doubles title for Munson, who also won in 2000 with Mike Bargman '00. Munson and Mehilos, the number one seeds, defeated Dessie Keegan and Padraig Gafney of Dublin Institute of Technology, 21-8, 21-2, in the finals. It took the LF pair just two serve rotations to jump out to an 18-0 lead in the second game. "Their final match was the best match they had played all season and it came at the perfect time," Dau added.

Mehilos advanced to the semifinals in the singles bracket before falling to the eventual champion, Eion Kennedy of DIT, 21-14, 21-11. Seven Forester men advanced to the round of 16 in singles. David Munson (Williston, VT), Mike's younger brother, was among those who advanced to the quarterfinals, where he fell to top-seeded Brad Alesi of Texas A&M, 14-21, 21-20, 11-6, in, ".the match of the tournament," according to Dau.

Megan Gibson (Brown Deer, WI), playing her first year of handball, won the women's B singles title. "Megan has picked up the game faster than anyone I have ever coached," added Dau. "She has a bright future."

This year's Intercollegiate Tournament was the largest ever (176 men and 52 women). Thirty five schools from three countries were represented in the 49th year of the tourney.