While the men's fencing team will send several returning top performers to NCAA championships, newcomer Caitlin Kozel '09 will represent the women at the tournament. At Sunday's Northeast regional competition held at Tufts University, foil Will Friedman '09, épée Kai Keller '07 and épée Kozel all gave top-notch performances, qualifying for Nationals, which will take place March 22-25 in Madison, N.J.

This is the second consecutive year Friedman has made NCAAs, while Keller returns after qualifying in 2004 and 2005. Kozel, making her first career appearance at Nationals, will be the first woman to represent Brandeis since épée Jessica Lewis-Turner '04 in 2004.

"I'm ecstatic for Will and Kai," captain Brendan Doris-Pierce '07 said. "They've been the most consistent, if not the best fencers [we've had this season]. They've worked hard to get to this point."

"It was a big surprise for Caitlin to [qualify]," coach Bill Shipman said. "She didn't have a good seed [at Regionals], but she put on a good performance."

Four NCAA regional championships are held throughout the country, with a total of 24 fencers qualifying per weapon. Qualifying is based not only on performance at Regionals, but also on performances throughout the season as well. Regionals consist of three pool rounds and a final round-robin championship.

Friedman was seeded ninth among 32 foils at the tournament and finished 13th. Though he failed to reach the championship round, a strong regular-season record earned him a trip to Nationals.

"It's exciting to qualify for the second year in a row," Friedman. "There was a lot of pressure to qualify for the second time; I was glad that I could live up to it."

When Friedman was pitted against teammate Eugene Vortsman '08 in the tournament's third round, Friedman won the Brandeis showdown 5-4. This teammate-versus-teammate scenario is unique to NCAA championship events.

"[Vortsman and I] fence each other five days a week," Friedman said. "We know each other's fencing better than anyone else. It felt like a loss, [but you have to] show no mercy."

Keller was seeded ninth out of 37 épées at Regionals and finished seventh to earn his third NCAA berth in his final season at Brandeis.

"It's a great way to finish off everything," Keller said. "I'm excited to see where I stand [among other épées] in the nation."

Needing one more victory to ensure a spot at Nationals, Keller went on an untimely losing streak, dropping his next series of bouts, including back-to-back 5-4 losses to fencers from Yale University and Columbia University. He finally got his much-needed win in his final bout of the day, a 3-2 overtime decision over a fencer from Columbia.

"[I was] obviously happy to put it all together," Keller said. "My battery went empty in the fourth round."

Sabers Isaac Liberman '07, Naveen George '10 and Doris-Pierce '07 and foils Vortsman and J.D. Carroll '09 all narrowly missed out on qualifying for the NCAAs.

Vortsman was vying for his second consecutive appearance at Nationals.

On the women's side, Kozel qualified for Nationals with a 4-5 record in the round-robin championships at Tufts. Kozel was seeded 17th among 40 epees at Regionals. Only the top 10 qualified for NCAAs, a signal that Kozel performed well above what was expected of her.

"It's a surprise [for me to qualify]," Kozel said. "I haven't fenced too well the last two tournaments. I'm excited to have a chance to go to Nationals."

In the championship round-robin, Kozel defeated Harvard's Maria Larsson 5-1 for her first career victory over the star Crimson fencer.

"I felt like such an underdog," Kozel said. "[I had a] one-touch-at-a- time attitude. It's the best way to go; it makes it so much easier to fence."

Fellow foils Chantal Dewey '07 and Jessie Newhall '09 narrowly missed out on joining Kozel at Nationals.

Coach Shipman knows that succeeding at Nationals will be no easy task for the Judges.

"[Nationals] demands a lot of mental concentration," he said.