Foil Will Friedman '09 appeared in his fourth consecutive NCAA Fencing Championship last weekend looking to match or improve upon his seventh-place finish from a year ago.That improvement did not happen as Friedman dipped to 14th place out of 24 foils, winning just 10 of his 22 bouts during the two-day tournament. Still, he said was satisfied with the way he finished.

"This experience has been a lot more laid-back for me," Friedman said. "My goal was to not completely mess up, and I think I succeeded in that respect. Repeating my [seventh- place] success last year would have been nice, though I came into it thinking that it was unrealistic without a tremendous stroke of luck and a strong outing."

Sabers Adam Austin '11 and Anna Hanley '11 joined Friedman in representing the men's and women's fencing teams at the NCAA Championships. Together, they scored 24 points and led Brandeis to an 18th- place finish. Austin finished 22nd among sabers, going 6-17, while Hanley finished in 17th place, ending the tournament 8-15. Pennsylvania State University won the title with 195 points, 13 points better than the University of Notre Dame.

A total of 24 collegiate fencers per weapon qualified for the NCAA Championships, including members of Division I and III teams. During the initial pool play, each fencer competed in one five-point bout against each of the 23 other fencers. The four fencers with the most victories qualified for the final bracket in a single-elimination tournament, with fencers competing in 15-point bouts to determine the winners.

Friedman's performance included a 5-4 victory against two-time NCAA Champion Ohio State University junior Andras Horanyi and a 5-1 win against Columbia University senior Sherif Farrag.

"I had never beaten Horanyi before, and I have only beaten Farrag once. Fortunately, [Horanyi] was fencing badly, so that was different and it helped me out. Against Sherif, I waited for him to make a wrong attack, and I would change my tactic before he could change his," Friedman said.

Coach Bill Shipman said he thought inexperience played a role in Austin's first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

"Austin fenced well, but it's always a little intimidating the first time you come to this tournament. He started off slowly but fared better in the middle of the tournament," Shipman said.

Austin said he did not begin to settle down until several bouts into the tournament when he defeated Princeton University sophomore John Stogin 5-1.

"I began to feel more comfortable after my first win against [Stogin]. Fortunately, it was early enough that I was able to pull off a few more wins after that," he said.

One of Austin's victories was a 5-2 win against Norte Dame sophomore Barron Nydam.

"I've never fenced well against [Nydam]. In the past, I've always been surprised by his patience because he never seems to be moving very quickly

or very far," Austin said. "He has always seemed to be able to outwait me, but I was able to turn that against him today."

Austin said he was particularly disappointed with his loss to University of Pennsylvania junior Andrew Bielen. After leading throughout the bout, Austin allowed Bielen to tie the score at four and proceeded to lose the final touch to Bielen.

"On the last point, I rushed forward and hoped I could surprise him, but it was a poor decision at this level of competition," he said.

Like Austin, Hanley admitted nerves consumed her at the beginning of the tournament.

"I started off very nervous and didn't perform well on the first day. On the second day, I was more confident on the strip, and I beat a few people I needed to beat to place higher," Hanley said.

One of Hanley's first-day losses came to Penn State junior Caitlin Thompson. Hanley jumped out to an early 3-1 lead and pushed Thompson to a 4-2 deficit; however, Hanley lost the bout 5-4 with a series of mental lapses.

"Sometimes I get into a habit of wanting things to work, and I get frustrated that they don't, so I try to get them to work over and over again," Hanley said. "You can't do that in a five-touch bout. One touch means everything."

One of Hanley's wins was a 5-1 victory against University of Pennsylvania sophomore Danielle Kamis.

The fencing teams will see many of their commonly used fencers graduate, with Friedman, women's team captains foil Jess Davis-Heim '09 and saber Jenny Press '09, foil Jessica Newhall '09 and épée Caitlin Kozel '09 highlighting the significant departures.