It was an impressive weekend for the men's and women's fencing teams as they turned in stellar performances at the second meet of the Northeast Fencing Championship Jan. 28. The men's team went 27-0 against Tufts, the first undefeated match for the team in recent memory, said Josh Grill '14.
Later in the afternoon, Bruno followed with another impressive 21-6 record against Dartmouth.
In addition to taking down the Jumbos and the Big Green, the men won four other matches to turn in a 6-0 day. The women, with a lone loss to Boston College, recorded a 6-1 record, giving the entire squad a 12-1 overall record for the meet.
"We just demolished them," Grill said.
Despite finishing at the top of the field, not every win came easily for the men, with close matches against Boston College (14-13), MIT (14-13) and Brandeis (15-12).The squad was led by first-year Barrett Weiss '15, who went 14-1 in the foil, and Peter Tyson '12, who went 15-3 in the sabre.
The women's team's one loss against the Eagles did not dampen the squad's morale, said captain Cory Abbe '13. Kathyrn Hawrot '14 and Vivian Truong '12 were the two most outstanding fencers with records of 13-0 and 10-0, respectively, in the foil. Caitlin Taylor '13 and Abbe also had strong performances, each recording 17 points for the team.
With such an impressive start to 2012, both teams are hoping the successful results will help them pick up steam as they finish up the season.
"We are a strong team this year," Abbe said.
But despite the impressive outing, Grill said the team still has room for growth. "We could have done better for some bouts," he said.
After this weekend, the team has only two more weeks to prepare for the Ivy League Championship, which Avery Nackman '13 said is "always a tough competition."
The men's team ranked fifth overall at last year's Ivies with a 1-4 record and the women ranked sixth overall with a 1-5 record.
Bruno has one more invitational, the Erick Sollee Invitation at Brandeis Feb. 4, before it takes on its Ivy foes. Even with the tough competition looming, the fencers seem excited rather than nervous about the upcoming challenges.
"It is fun to fence against strong fencers," Grill said.
