Even without two of its top members, the women's fencing team took third overall at the NIWFA Tournament last Saturday at the Gantcher Center.
Despite the absences of freshman A epee fencer Tracy Mayfield and senior team president and foil captain Julia Shih, the team continued the success it has enjoyed all season, finishing behind only Temple University in first and Drew University in second.
Tufts' three different weapon teams performed well despite the personnel losses. The foil squad continued its solid play by placing second, falling only to Temple. Freshman Christine Lee, the A foil, won 13 bouts.
"With her incredible foot work and clean style, she can only improve on this impressive record next year," sophomore Jamie Kraut said of Lee.
B foil fencer Kraut won 10 bouts and freshman C foil fencer Lisa Granshaw won 11 bouts after moving up from an alternate position to fill Shih's spot. [ed note: Granshaw is a Viewpoints editor at the Daily] The foil fencers' performances qualified each of them for the individual foil competition, in which Granshaw placed fourth, losing the third place spot to University of Florida FC fencer Kelly Crandall by a single touch. Lee placed fifth and Kraut placed 15th.
"Personally, I didn't expect to do that well," Granshaw said. "It is the best I've done individually in a tournament."
"[Granshaw] lost a heartbreaker," coach Jason Sachs added. "It was an exciting match and Lisa fenced beautifully."
Despite Mayfield's absence, caused by Achilles tendonitis, the epee squad took 10th in the tournament, logging 17 victories. Sophomore Annie Haluska filled in for Mayfield in the A epee bout and won four bouts. At B epee, junior captain Donna Au won seven bouts and sophomore Katherine Zeis took six. With mediocre performances throughout, none of the epee fencers qualified for the individual competition, but the fencers said that they exceeded their pre-tournament expectations.
"The epee team consists of fencers who are fairly new to the sport," Au said.
The sabre squad continued its success, winning the team competition over runner-up Drew and third-place Temple. Senior A sabre Katherine Zouein outperformed all other A sabres, winning 12 bouts. Her younger sister and B sabre fencer, Louisa May Zouein, finished behind only Temple sophomore Kristine Jones with 12 wins of her own.
The sabre squad carried its successful team performance to the individual level as well. One week earlier at the New England Championships, Louisa May lost by a single point to her older sister as the two combined for a 1-2 Tufts finish. This time around, however, Louisa May took the top spot.
After winning her first bout 15-5, Louisa May beat out Temple's Jones and freshman teammate Ashlee Phillips. Phillips had eliminated her older sister from the individual competition earlier in the day, and tensions were running a little high, although Zouein got the last laugh.
"In the middle of the bout she slammed into me and punched me with her guard," Louisa May said. "I was really mad and ripped my mask off, and started moving towards her. Luckily Katherine jumped in front of me to calm me down."
Louisa May pulled herself together and resoundingly defeated her opponent, 15-5, to take the individual competition and the Vitalli Cup. Katherine ended up in fifth.
The NIWFA tournament came after the team's success the previous weekend at the New England Championships, where Tufts tied for second with MIT, losing only to Div. I Boston College.
In that tournament, the sabre squad took second, the foil squad won its weapon, and the traditionally weaker epee squad took seventh. The foil fencers all performed well behind the Zoueins' strong performances in the individual competition, as Lee took third, Shih took fourth, and Kraut placed sixth.
"This year had been fantastic," Sachs said. "I cannot think of one person on my team who did not improve. The future is very bright for our program."
The team will continue its strong season at NCAA Regionals at Harvard's Gordon Indoor Track Facility on Sunday. This will be the last tournament for most of the team's members as only the top three Regional fencers in each weapon qualify for the NCAA Nationals. Two years ago, the Zouein sisters both qualified for Nationals, and the sisters aim to lead their teammates to a similar fate.
