If last week's annual preseason tournament, known as "The Big One," is a preview of the 2006-07 fencing season, then the year certainly looks promising for the Jumbo squad.
The Jumbos finished third out of 17 teams in the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association, winning the saber competition and placing second in foil competition, and the squad is looking to build on last season's success. Four Tufts fencers were among the top 13.
Senior Louisa May Zouein and sophomore foil captain Christine Lee, who represented Tufts at the 2006 NCAA Fencing Nationals last March, led the team in individual competition by each placing second in pools of 51 and 65 respectively. Zouein overcame a 7-1 deficit in her first direct elimination bout to get the win and subsequently defeated her next two opponents.
In addition to Lee and Zouein, sophomore Lisa Granshaw and freshman Rebecca Hughes also turned in solid performances. Granshaw finished 15th in the foil competition while Hughes led the epee squad, finishing 10th in a field of 62.
Despite their success in preseason contention last weekend, picking up right where they left off has not been as easy for the Jumbos as it may seem, as the team has had to compensate for a loss of a strong senior class.
Senior team president Donna Au is not worried about the team's losses.
"Even though we lost about half of our team due to graduation and studying abroad, and half our team consists of new freshmen, I am confident that we will do great this year," Au said. "The team dynamics are excellent, we have fun together, and we have a lot of team unity and talent which is a huge threat to the competition."
Between the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, graduation claimed foil captain and team president Julia Shih and co-captain Katherine Zouein. To fill the void created by Zouein's departure from the saber squad - Tufts' most competitive group in recent years - Au has switched weapons, moving from epee to saber.
In addition, the Jumbos have had to compensate for the absence of their entire junior class. Junior foil fencers Emily Cooperman and Jamie Kraut, junior saber fencers Diana Barger and Lauren Kari, and junior epee fencers Anne Haluska and Katherine Zeis will all miss the season due to studies abroad.
While the loss of so much of the team's experience will be hard to combat, the Jumbos have several newcomers to assist in the efforts. Led by sophomore captain Tracy Mayfield, who returns this season from Achilles tendonitis, freshmen Kristina Thompson, Leah Meller and Lisa Yanushefski will join ranked classmates Hughes and Rachel Amani Smathers on the epee squad.
"While the epee squad has traditionally been the weakest squad, I think we have a strong squad this year," Au said. "The freshmen epee fencers are full of talent and fence with an attitude of intensity that will carry them over the competition."
Although Hughes placed 10th among epees in last week's tournament, the squad as a whole performed beneath its expectations. Zouein, however, was not concerned.
"The epee squad is mostly freshmen who are still figuring things out," she said. "There are probably a lot of nerves. Overall I think it was a good meet for the freshmen to get some experience so that next week they will be all nice and calmed down."
Freshmen Naomi Bryant and Emily Maretsky are both experienced foil fencers and will fill out the squad, and freshman saber fencer Alexandra Cheetham rounds out the freshman class.
"The new members of our team have brought a lot of enthusiasm and dedication to the table," Mayfield said. "Everyone comes in with a different level of experience and it's exciting to see a new group of people coming together."
The Jumbos will face their first challenge with a conference tournament this weekend, when they will square off against perennial contenders MIT and Brandeis.
