For the second straight season, epée Caitlin Kozel '09 will represent Brandeis at the NCAA Championships March 13-16, but she admits that is where the similarities end between the two years.After excelling early on last year, Kozel struggled at times this season and entered last Sunday's NCAA Regional Championships as just the 22nd seed out of 39 competitors in the epée division. She even admitted she was not so confident about her chances at qualifying as one of the region's epée representatives.

"I remember that, when I first got [to the tournament], I recognized all the girls in my pool, and thought 'I'm not even going to make it out of the first round.'"

Instead, Kozel comfortably advanced to the second round, where she swept all four of her opponents to assert her presence in the tournament. She then qualified for the final round-robin with a 3-1 record in her semifinal pool and took five of 10 bouts in the finals to qualify as the fourth-place epée finisher.

Kozel has tinkered with her fencing style all season in an attempt to incorporate more defensive strategies, but she said returning to a more aggressive mindset was a key to her qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

"A lot of my teammates were making fun of me yesterday, saying that I never retreated," Kozel said. "I didn't even realize that until people were telling me, [but] I have been working more on defense and working on incorporating coach [Bill Shipman's] parrying and reposting strategy."

Last year, Kozel won four bouts on the first day of the NCAA Championships, but struggled to just one victory on the second day. Kozel said improving her second-day mark is her primary focus this time around.

"[I'm telling myself], 'Don't fall apart on the second day,'" Kozel said. "That's what I have to work on, because the first day last year, I fenced well, but the second day was awful.