The men’s and women’s fencing teams went a combined 5-4 as the hosts of the Brandeis Invitational on Sunday behind a number of impressive performances from both squads. Both teams faced Johns Hopkins University, St. Johns University, the United States Air Force Academy and Yale University, while the women also welcomed Cornell University to the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

The women offset 19-8 losses to both Cornell and St. Johns by defeating Air Force, Johns Hopkins and Yale.

Saberist Jaclyn Hammond ’17 noted that the squad has been able to mix new fencers into the team this year, producing in positive results.

“The team has clicked a lot; there are a number of [first-years] that have come in and integrated well,” she said. 

“[When you can] turn around and know the team is behind [you] rooting, it’s a powerful thing to have.”

The squad matched up evenly with Yale, taking the foil bouts 7-2 and falling by the same score in the sabre bouts, but clinched the 14-13 victory on the final bout of the epee bouts. Epeeist Gwendolyn Mowell ’16 went 10-2 overall on the day, including a 2-1 performance against Yale.

The epeeists swept Air Force 9-0 en route to an overall 17-10 victory for the Judges, during which both Mowell and Liz Feller ’18 were undefeated in all three bouts. Hammond went 2-1 against Air Force, helping the squad clinch a 5-4 victory in sabre bouts.

The Judges needed a close 5-4 victory in the epee bouts with Johns Hopkins but used 7-2 wins in both foil and sabre to earn a 19-8 victory.

Foilist Caroline Mattos ’16 went 3-0 in the victory over Yale, while saberist Ashley Jean ’17 had a productive day with an 8-5 overall record and was a perfect 3-0 in bouts against Johns Hopkins.

The men’s squad went an even 2-2 on the day, falling to St. Johns 19-8 and Air Force 16-11 but defeating Yale and Johns Hopkins.

The Judges’ victory over Yale was the squad’s first win against the Bulldogs since the 2007 to 2008 season, using a 7-2 victory in sabre to claim a 17-10 victory. 

Saberist Adam Mandel ’15 went a perfect 3-0 against Yale en route to a nearly flawless 11-1 record overall on the day. The squad had four fencers post a winning record against Yale, as foilists Noah Berman ’15 and Guillermo Narvaez ’18 and epeeists Justin Kwon ’16 and Hunter Stusnick ’18 all went 2-1.

“Our two wins are a result of the power of our saber and foil squads which lead the way in both victories,” Stusnick said. 

“[The] team has a lot of returning starters who are strong fencers but they have also integrated the first years into the team well.”

Saberist Len Grazian ’17 went 3-0 against Johns Hopkins, while Mandel went 2-1 in the loss to St. Johns.

Hammond said the competition revealed a number of things she can work on before returning to action.

“It [was a] tough competition but I need to work on improving speed, I thought that I was a bit slow,” she said. “That is something I can work on over break.”

Both squads will resume their seasons on Jan. 17 in the Western Invitational at Air Force before traveling to Brown University for the second Northeast Conference Meet on Jan. 24.