After losing its entire senior class and all but one of its juniors, including one of the region's top sabreists in senior Louisa May Zouein, many teams would have had trouble putting a good spin on things.
But if Saturday's annual individual competition known as "The Big One" is any indication, the fencing squad seems to be in good shape heading into the 2007-08 winter campaign.
The Jumbos, who faced competitors from all over the area in round-robin pools and, later, direct elimination bouts, were led by junior foilist Christine Lee and freshman Coryn Wolk, who each finished sixth in their respective weapons. Classmate Georgia Ranes was not far behind Wolk in the epee field, placing eighth, while sophomore Alex Cheetham rounded out the group of top-10 Jumbo finishers, posting a solid-ninth place showing to lead the sabres.
The experience was a good one for the team, which boasts a roster composed primarily of underclassmen.
"It's a good tournament because it doesn't really count for anything, so it's just nice to be able to see the competition," sophomore epeeist Becca Hughes said. "It's a nice way to start the season because there's no pressure. It's a really great experience. It's a long day, but it's definitely worthwhile."
With juniors Lisa Granshaw, Lauren Kaplan and last year's epee captain Tracy Mayfield either abroad or taking time off to start the season, the squad's oldest member is Lee, its solitary junior.
"It puts a lot of pressure on the beginning fencers to compete," coach Jason Sachs said. "We've now become a pretty competitive team, so we're fencing harder and harder schools and we don't necessarily have as strong fencers."
But Lee won't be alone in leading the team this season, as it has a strong class of hardworking sophomores that includes Cheetham, foilist Naomi Bryant, and epeeists Amani Smathers and Hughes.
"It's important that the team is cohesive and that there's strong leadership, since we are all pretty young," Hughes said. "It's important that we stay focused because we're not nearly as experienced as some of the other teams - there are teams out there with people who have been fencing for 10 years."
The team's veterans will be joined by several freshmen, many of whom have solid fencing backgrounds. The future of the epee squad looks particularly bright, with extensively experienced freshmen Wolk and Ranes coming in to join Smathers and Hughes, both of whom had impressive rookie campaigns. Freshman Kelsey Schur, who also joins the team with fencing experience, will round out the squad.
The foilists, who managed a third-place showing at last season's New England Championships, are also looking strong. Led by Lee, who represented the team at the NCAA Championships in 2006, the squad boasts returning sophomores Bryant and Lisa Yanushefski, who each made strong progress last year, along with some new talent in experienced freshmen Nadia Nibbs and Irina Schwatka.
Tufts' Achilles heel to start the season will likely be its sabre squad. Cheetham, who made great strides behind Zouein last year, will take the lead and will be joined by novice fencers Sunetra Bane, Catherine Bowlus, Mary Moseley and Carla Roberts-Toler.
"It's definitely a new experience coaching as well as trying to improve your own skills at the same time," Cheetham said. "I definitely think that my experience on this team and even on my high school team has helped prepare me for the role that I'm playing this year."
"In the beginning, we're going to be giving away basically a lot of sabre bouts just as our freshmen learn the sport," Smathers added. "In terms of team performance, it might hurt at the beginning, but since we will have a strong epee and foil team, we're hoping that those can at least try to make up for the lost sabre bouts until they kind of get into the swing of things and develop their skills."
But Cheetham won't be alone for long, as the sabreists will be helped out by senior Lauren Kari, who will fence briefly in competition for the Jumbos to keep them more competitive. The squad will also get Kaplan back next semester when she returns from overseas.
"Lauren is going to sort of ease them into the sport and competition for one or two meets," Cheetham said. "It's not easy to go out when you've only been fencing for maybe two months at the most and you're fencing people who have been fencing for four-plus years."
As the team's only senior last year, Zouein provided leadership to the entire group, but her absence will most likely be felt on the young sabre squad. Zouein capped off her collegiate career with first-place titles in individual sabre competition at both the New England Championships and the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships.
"She was an amazing fencer and an amazing person and just generally was probably the leader on the team last year," Cheetham said.
Despite the Jumbos' youth, Sachs isn't worried about the team and is looking forward to watching them progress this season.
"I really like this group of girls," Sachs said. "They're hardworking and motivated and I never worry about their enthusiasm and focus for this sport. As a coach, I don't think you could really ask for anything else."
