The men and women’s fencing team hosted the Brandeis Invitational this past Sunday as the men recorded a 3-2 record, while the women finished 2-3. The tournament consisted of six rounds with competitors Johns Hopkins University, Drew University, Cornell University, St. John’s University, Yale University, Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

The invitational began with two tight 14-13 victories against Johns Hopkins. The men were defeated 4-5 in epee and clinched the win on the backs of 5-4 victories in sabre and foil. The women fell to the Blue Jays in sabre and epee by the scores of 4-5 and 2-7, respectively. Fortunately, the foil squad came up strong, dominating its competition 8-1 to bring home the victory for the Judges. Saberist Kyle Berney ’18 continued his stellar start to the season with a perfect 3-0 record in the competition for the men. Foilis ts Caroline Mattos ’16 and Zimeng Xue ’16 were also 3-0 during the match for the women’s side. 

In the second round against Drew, both squads won with a dominating score of 21-6. Foilists Toby Gray ’16, Elishua Little ’18 and Charles Wells ’19 all posted 3-0 records to lead the foil squad to an overall record of 9-0. Saberists Nina Sayles ’17 and Deborah Abiri ’16 also recorded 3-0 records for the women. Sayles was joined by Rosa Zhang ’16 and Liz Feller ’18 from the epee squad, who both put 3-0 scores on the board.

In the third round, the Judges suffered their first defeats of the afternoon, falling to Yale. The men lost 11-16, while the women were narrowly edged by a score of 13-14. The only category in which the men were able to come up victorious was in epee. Captain and epeeist Tom Hearne ’16 and epee Albert Reiss ’17 each went 2-1 against Yale. Little had another big match in which he went a perfect 3-0. 

The women performed better than the men as the epee team went 7-2. The team was led by Gwen Dolyn ’16, who won all three of her matches against the Bulldogs. Feller and Sonya Glickman ’16 each went 2-1 during their matches as well. Abiri and foilist Joanne Carminucci ’19 also recorded 2-1 scores to tighten up the close competition. After the loss, the teams were faced with the daunting task of going up against one of the top five teams in the nation last year, St. John’s. The Red Storm was able to control throughout the afternoon, beating both sides by a combined score of 23-4. Little again was the bright spot for the Judges, going 2-1 during the match. 

Foilist Guillermo Narvaez ’18 and saberist Curtis Wilson ’18 were each able to add a point for the men’s four total points. Foils Mattos, Xue, Emilia Dwyer ’16 and Feller each recorded a point for the women’s side. During the final bout against Cornell, the men came out victorious with a score of 16-11, while the women fell 6-21. The sabre and foil squads for the men both posted scores of 6-3, and epee lost by the close score of 4-5. Berney and Narvaez led the Judges with 2-0 perfect scores. In the loss, Glickman and Mowell, who each went 2-1, led the women.   

The teams will be off until next semester, when the women take on Wellesley College on Jan. 20, while both teams will face off in the second Northeast Fencing Conference on Jan. 23.