With a lack of University Athletic Association competition during the season, the fencing squads have to use other top schools to see how they stack up against the rest of the nation.

It turns out they're doing all right.

The men's and women's squads each earned three victories at Saturday's Northeast Conference Meet at Boston College. The men bested Dartmouth College, Tufts University and Vassar College by scores of 14-13, 21-6 and 17-10, while falling to Brown University 14-13 and BC 16-11.

Similarly, the women defeated Dartmouth and Tufts, while their third victim was Smith College. However, they were defeated handily by Boston College 21-6, Brown 24-3 and Vassar 19-8.

Additionally, the women beat Wellesley College in a thrilling affair last Wednesday, taking the competition, 14-13. The women responded well in a situation where they needed to win against a huge rival, especially as last weekend's meet approached.

Men's sabreist Ben Schmidt '14 stated the team is currently trying to address recurring problems they see in the meets and work toward improving them for later in the season.

"At the moment, we are working on tactical decisions and general technique," said Schmidt.

"We are personally working on frequent issues that occur during practice bouts. We are analyzing the issues that we have to deal with."

Sabreist Deborah Rothbard '14 also noted the members of the team are constantly trying to find ways to improve on their performances and reach their full potential.

"We are always finding ways to transcend our comfort levels regarding endurance, technique and creativity," she said.

"With a sport such as fencing, the athlete always has to be on his or her toes to respond to a new challenge the competitor may present."

The men featured two top performers, as Julian Cardillo '14 and Noah Berman '15 each dominated the foil competition. Cardillo went 8-2 on the day while Berman compiled a record of 9-3. Two first-year members of the sabreist squad stood out at the meet, indicating a bright future for the sabreists as Jess Ochs-Willard '15 and Adam Mandel '15 emerged victorious in eight matches apiece.

On the women's side, épeéist Leah Mack '14 went 12-6 on the day to lead the squad in victories. Fellow épeéist Eliza Powell '15 also earned an impressive mark at just her first major meet, winning six of her nine matches.

Though the Wellesley Blue won the foil part of the competition 9-0, Brandeis made up for its deficit in that section by winning épée 8-1 and sabre by a margin of 6-3.

In addition to winning three matches, sabreist Zoe Messinger '13 scored the decisive point to win the competition for Brandeis. Her teammate Emmily Smith '13 also chipped in with victories of her own to counteract wins from opposing sophomore Dania Wright, senior Zsofia Schwerger and junior Mariami Bekauri.

While the Judges' superiority was evident in sabre, the épeé yielded an absolute goldmine of success for Brandeis, winning all but one point against the Blue. Emily Mandel '12 and Leah Mack '14 were perfect in the competition, winning all three of their matches. While Kristin Ha '14 lost in a heated battle against junior Elise Dong, she had the last laugh, winning in her other two competitions.

With a good idea of where they stand, the Judges head into next Saturday's home competition, the Eric Sollee Invitational, against an array of top-tier opponents including: Haverford and Hunter Colleges, Johns Hopkins University, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.

As Schmidt says, home matches—especially against NYU—always prove a good test of character.

"NYU is our biggest rival for sure," Schmidt said, adding that the significance of the rivalry is increased by the fact that both teams are in the UAA.

"Being home provides us with an advantage of being able to have more people cheering for us, which is pretty unusual for us. We always look forward to it."

Rothbard agreed, stating the home environment will be an asset, but the team should not get too comfortable.

"Being home does have comfort value, which can be helpful to us and intimidating for the visiting teams who have to adapt to new surroundings," said Rothbard.

"Also, being home is great because our fans have easy access to the competition and will be able to cheer for us on the sidelines."