Though perhaps not performing up to its own standards at the Wellesley Invitational, the Jumbo fencing team defeated two out of three competitors on Saturday, handling Vassar and Hunter 15-12 and 16-11, respectively, after falling short to Wellesley,16-11.
In the first round, the foil squad lost 7-2, the sabres won 6-3, and the ?©p?©es fell 6-3 against a strong Wellesley team.
"We had a break for five weeks, and then they came back, and it was our first competition and our first match," coach Jason Sachs said. "Unfortunately, we had to fence Wellesley. They have a much more experienced crew, but I like the way we fenced against them.
"I would suspect and hope that when we fence Wellesley on February 10th, we will be able to pick up the bouts necessary to win," Sachs continued. "We'll see. We're working hard, and we're getting back into the swing of things."
The Jumbos swept Vassar in the next round with a standout performance from the foils, who won 7-2. The sabre and ?©p?©e teams both won 5-4.
"Vassar had awkward sabre fencers that kind of threw our sabre fencers for a loop," Sachs said. "[Senior sabre captain] Louisa [Zouein], who is our stellar sabre fencer, dropped two bouts against them. It was unusual."
Tufts then faced Hunter, which challenged the foil and ?©p?©e teams despite its reputation as a traditionally weak fencing squad. Sophomore Lisa Granshaw led the foils, recovering from a 2-1 loss against Wellesley to go 3-0 against experienced Hunter competitors.
The Hunter sabre team, however, proved no match for the Jumbos, giving Sachs more mobility to move players around. With senior team president Donna Au leaving the sabre squad at the beginning of the semester, sophomore Olivia Kim switched weapons, and made her first appearance in competition as a sabre.
"I switched over from foil to sabre recently, so it was more of a learning experience," Kim said. "I actually did okay in one of my bouts - I didn't win, but I lost 4-5, so I did pretty well for a beginner."
"We miss Donna a lot," sophomore ?©p?©e captain Tracy Mayfield added. "She was one of our two seniors. It's hard because our sabre squad is smaller, and also she was one of the only people to have been on this team for multiple years."
Still, the absence of seasoned players has not hindered the team substantially.
"The whole team has sort of stepped up," Sachs said. "Tracy and [freshman sabre] Alex Cheetham have really become leaders, which is nice. [Freshman epee] Amani [Smathers] is a really solid fencer, which also helps to stabilize the team. They're all just young, and they just need to develop. The whole model of this year is 'work hard and be nice,' and for the most part, you can see that."
"We've had to make adjustments and work as a team," freshman foil Naomi Bryant added. "We're mostly freshmen and sophomores, and I think we have a lot more freshmen than the other teams, but we usually do pretty well."
The Jumbos will get the chance to put their hard work to the test against NYU on Saturday at home and again on Sunday as they head to Cambridge for the MIT Invitational, where they will meet New England powerhouses Brown, Brandeis, Boston College, and MIT. Penn State, many of whose fencers are currently trying to make the Olympic team, and Princeton, whose team features as many as three fencers ranking among the top 20 in the country, will also be formidable forces at the meet.
"Saturday was our chance to get back into things," Mayfield said. "We could have done better at that meet, but the point is that we're back into it now and this Sunday we're really going to have to show up."
