Breakout men's fencing star Eugene Vortsman '08 was the sixth-best foilist in the country after the first day of the NCAA championships in Houston, until the second day of competition finally brought him back down to earth. "I started doing well and realized I could be an All-American," Vortsman said. "I was trying not to think about it, but at the end of the day I realized I fenced really well."

After a 9-5 record on the first day put the second-year fencer just two places out of a medal, a series of difficult losses on the second day dropped Vortsman to 15th place, three spots away from All-American status.

Vortsman was one of three Brandeis fencers to participate in Houston over the weekend, where the Judges placed third in Division III and 21st in the nation. The competition pitted teams from all three divisions in the same field.

Will Friedman '09 finished in 22nd place in the men's foil competition, and captain Jeremy Simpson '06 finished in 24th place in the men's saber competition. Harvard University took first place overall with 165 points.

Vortsman got off to a quick start the first day, jumping ahead of Stanford University junior All-American Steve Gerberman to take an easy 5-1 victory. For the rest of the day, Vortsman continued to knock off formidable opponents, defeating Jakub Jedrkowiak of Notre Dame University before topping regional rival Calvin Chen of Columbia University.

But Vortsman would only win one more bout in the tournament. He struggled mightily against many of the top foilists in the country on the second day, including gold and silver medalists Boaz Ellis and Andras Horanyi of Ohio State University.

"Things were just not clicking for me today," Vortsman said. "All the [top schools] were driven because they were trying to win NCAAs."

Despite his struggles, Vortsman still had a chance to gain All-American status if he won his last bout, but he could not put it together and finished in 15th place.

"There were a couple of bouts that I should have won," Vortsman said. "I had a lot of close bouts that could have gone either way...but I felt I tried my best."

Friedman also fared well in the early going and struggled the second day. His 6-8 record the first day was good enough to put him in 15th place overall for the day. Friedman punctuated the day with a 5-0 rout of Rutgers' senior Jesse Schibilia.

"I was satisfied after the first day," Friedman said. "I was hoping to continue my run, but I knew we had some tougher competition coming up."

Friedman finished in 22nd overall after a few close bouts against Ellis and freshman sixth-place finisher Kai Itameri-Kinter of Harvard, but was unable to win even one bout that day.

Coach Bill Shipman attributed Friedman's second-day free-fall from the standings to a lack of assuredness.

"He didn't really have the confidence he needed to succeed today," Shipman said.

In the saber competition, Simpson won only one bout in the final match of his Brandeis career, which placed him last out of 24 fencers in the event.

"He had a tough time," Shipman said. "It's a slippery slope when you start to lose."

But Shipman found solace despite Simpson's last-place finish.

"Making it to the NCAA's was a great cap on his career here at Brandeis," Shipman said.

Vortsman, meanwhile, admitted he is ready for the season to end.

"It has been a long, emotional, and stressful season,"he said. "I'm ready to go home and take a nap.