Last Sunday, the Brandeis women's fencing team competed with four others at the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C. Against heavy competition, the Judges finished even at 2-2, defeating University of North Carolina and United States Air Force Academy, while losing to Duke University and No. 1 Penn State University. A day earlier, the men struggled through a winless competition, falling to each of their four opponents.

The women, who spent the competition at the Eric Sollee Invitational last Saturday at Brandeis, began their Sunday strongly, beating UNC, a team that took a close match from Brandeis in December.

This time, the Judges came out on top, 15-12, on the back of 6-3 win in saber with strong fencing from captain Alex Turner '11 and Zoe Messinger '13. The women went on to beat Air Force 18-9 in a weapons sweep.

The competition got tough for the Judges when they went up against Duke and Penn State. Despite a 5-4 win in épée, Brandeis fell to Duke 19-8 with a winless match for foil, which lost 9-0 in a number of close bouts.

Brandeis then lost 25-2 to a powerful Penn State team, whose top-ranked squad carries some of the country's best fencers.

Coach Bill Shipman praised Penn State's impressive talent.

"They're just too good," he said. "Too strong, top to bottom."

Both Shipman and the Brandeis fencers, who were realistic about their chances coming in, felt good about the team's performance.

"The team spirit was there," said saber Anna Hanley '11. "We were fencing hard, but the level of competition was high."

Turner was particularly impressed with the épée squad's handling of Duke.

"They weren't intimated by them and they just went out there and did their thing," she said.

Among Duke's strongest fencers was saber Becca Ward, who won the gold medal at the 2006 World Fencing Championships and went on to win bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in both individual and team saber.

Regardless of the team's overall record, Turner said that it was an amazing experience to compete against one of the top girls in the country.

"We held our own," Turner said. "Obviously it would have been nice to beat Duke or beat Penn State, but we came out and we did what we wanted to do, and we did well."

The men, who have not fared as well as the women this season, experienced similarly high competition as they went up against No. 1 Penn State and No. 10 Duke. After losing a closely fought match to North Carolina, 16-11, Brandeis fell to Air Force, 21-6; Duke, 21-6; and Penn State, 22-5.

Saber Adam Austin '11 had the best record on the day for the men, finishing at 7-5.

Just like on the women's side, the Penn State men proved to be insurmountably high competition.

"Penn State is just too good for everybody," Shipman said. "Some of them are national class; some of them are even world-class fencers, so it's very difficult to keep up with them."

In general, according to Shipman, the competition seen at Duke was higher than the team had seen at past meets.

"The épée field was very strong, and our guys maybe weren't quite at their best," Shipman said. "For a team that carries most of its veterans on its épée squad, high competition in that area has made team victories hard to come by. "

The young foil team struggled as it faced teams such as Penn State, whose roster includes sophomore Miles Chamley-Watson, an all-American currently ranked No. 2 in the country for foil.

Épée Alex Clos '10, the men's captain, noted impressive resilience by the team through the tough competition they saw at the Duke Invitational.

"Our morale was low in the beginning, but by the end, we were definitely showing more community," Clos said. "That's something we can always improve on."

Clos stressed the importance of staying composed in the face of skilled foes, something the experienced fencers on the team are trying to teach the younger players.

"A lot of the bouts that we fence are taking on . much more experienced or higher skill level fencers," said Clos. "So it's a fairly overwhelming thing to be faced with that."

Both the men's and women's fencing squads will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Mt. Holyoke College for the New England Championships.