Senior sabre captain Louisa May Zouein had no trouble repeating her first-place showing at last weekend's New England Championships during Saturday's National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championship at Smith College. Zouein won her second-straight individual sabre championship, the third time she has taken the top spot in an individual sabre competition in her career.
"I've never won both [New England and NIWFA Championships]," Zouein said. "It's been either-or, so it's really cool for my senior year to have won both in a row and be fencing so well and dominating my opponents. Everything has been so good and clean, and the team has just been so fun and supportive."
"It was a really great moment when Louisa won first place in individuals," sophomore epee captain Tracy Mayfield said. "It was the second weekend in a row that she took first out of a strong field of sabre fencers, and we were all really happy to see that. It was her last team meet ever, and she drew on incredible physical and mental strength."
Zouein fenced well during team play, placing third among the sabres, and easily won her first two direct elimination bouts. It was not until she advanced to the top four in individual competition that Zouein ran into a tough opponent.
"My third bout I thought would be really hard, and it was," Zouein said. "It was a Haverford girl and she had a really strong attack, but I figured her out, and I beat her. The next girl was a Johns Hopkins fencer. I was beating her and I kind of let her catch up, but then I pulled myself together and finished her off."
Sophomore foil captain Christine Lee also advanced to the final bout, and settled for second in the individual competition on the day.
"[Lee] had a really good day during the team portion," sophomore and Daily Staff Writer Lisa Granshaw said. "She ended up making it to the gold medal match and facing off against a really hard girl from Army. She didn't get first, but she did really well and held her own."
Granshaw and freshman Emily Maretsky joined Lee in keying the foil squad's second-straight third-place showing. Granshaw also qualified for individual competition, placing among the top sixteen.
"Granshaw has been incredibly solid this year in the foil B-slot," Mayfield said. "She has been so important to the success of our foil team."
"It was a good way to end the season," Granshaw added. "We had our ups and downs because it was such a long day, but I think we were all kind of inspired by the fact that it was our last team competition of the season. We all wanted to do really well."
Though the epees did not perform as well as they might have liked, they held their own against stiff competition, sending freshman Amani Smathers to the top sixteen in individual competition.
"For the epees, I thought it was a good day," freshman Rebecca Hughes said. "I think that Tracy, Amani and I all fenced well considering how long the day was, and that it's the end of the season, and just the nature of some of our competitors."
Freshman Alex Cheetham and sophomore Olivia Kim accompanied Zouein on the sabre squad. Cheetham also landed among the top 16 individually after an impressive day of team competition.
"Cheetham fenced well," Zouein said. "She was second or third coming out of team competition, and then she fenced really well in her first direct elimination bout. She almost beat a really good Temple fencer and in the end had a really great score considering her experience level. That was really exciting."
Those who have qualified will compete in the NCAA Regional Championships individually at home on Sunday, but for the rest of the Jumbos, Saturday's meet was the last of the season.
"It was a nice way to end the season," Hughes said. "At the end of it, we got to see Christine and Louisa fence for the gold, and it was nice to be there to watch them. They're both really talented, and it's nice to know what to shoot for. My new goal is at the end of the day to still be standing."
