After a few weeks of rough performances and many losses, the women's fencing team finally pulled through this weekend at the New England Championships at Dartmouth, placing sixth overall out of 14 three-weapon teams.
The epee squad had a particularly rewarding day, placing first in the team standings and having all three epeeists reach the finals. Freshman epeeist Coryn Wolk placed second in the epee finals, while the foil and sabre squads placed sixth and 10th, respectively.
"The team did fantastic, especially the epee squad," coach Jason Sachs said. "The challenge with the New Englands is you have to keep your focus all day long, through the good and the bad fencers. All of the epee fencers performed beautifully."
The tournament format differed from a standard meet in that each team in the tournament fenced every other team in a shortened manner.
Coaches assigned three fencers for each squad to the A, B or C slots. Each match consisted of nine bouts where the A slots fenced each other, and as did those in the B and C slots. At the end of the regular rounds, the top nine A slots, five B slots and two C slots qualified for the final pools.
The Jumbos went up against a number of schools this weekend that they had seen recently. They fenced all the schools they faced last weekend at the Northeast Conference Meet, in addition to Wellesley and UMass Amherst, whom they met within the last month.
Tufts managed a solid day, as it was not just the epeeists who turned heads.
"The foil squad was terrific all day as well," Sachs said. "They beat all of the fencers they should have and also beat some fencers they had lost to in weeks prior."
At the end of the day, the Jumbos topped both Dartmouth and Boston College in all three weapon squads after losing to both teams last weekend.
"Foil-wise, I think we've improved because we have gotten to fence them over the semester," said sophomore foilist Naomi Bryant, who is also an arts editor for the Daily. "We have learned their technique and gotten better."
After the initial rounds of the championships, the top fencers in each slot qualified for final pools.
Epee fencers Wolk, sophomore epee captain Amani Smathers, and freshman Georgia Ranes qualified for the finals, in addition to junior foil captain Christine Lee. At the end of the tournament, Wolk captured second in the epee finals, and Lee placed third in foil.
"Christine scratched and clawed her way to third place," Sachs said. "She almost did not make it to the final six, but her heart and desire to win was bigger than her exhaustion."
Overall, the epee squad also had the standout performance as all three of their fencers qualified for the finals on the heels of a strong performance in the preliminary rounds.
"Coryn was superb; she was one of two fencers standing at the end of the day," Sachs said. "It's unfortunate that she lost, but I bet next time she will beat her [opponent.]"
"All season long, we've known that the epee squad this year had potential, but this was the first time we've been able to achieve our potential," added Smathers, who is also an assistant layout editor for the Daily. "It was also a great feeling to move from one team to the next with the epee girls, win our bouts and then come back to our chairs and chat before the next round started."
Sabre, on the other hand, had a rough day and did not qualify any fencers for the final rounds.
"Sabre did have a tough day because we are a young squad," senior sabre fencer Lauren Kari said. "We really had to band together to help each other learn from what we did right and what we did wrong."
"The sabre squad had a bad day," Sachs added. "It happens; they are a very young team and once you start losing it's hard to get yourself recalibrated. I expect them to do better next weekend."
At the end of the day, the Jumbos had a mix of experiences but were exhausted after the tournament, which lasted over 13 hours, meaning the team members had to band together and support one another.
"I couldn't have made it through the entire tournament without them and they were being so supportive and I really appreciate that," Lee said. "I placed third overall and it's really all because of them. I can't stress that enough."
"There was a lot of positive energy, and I think that the great team vibe was one of the things that kept [all of us] going through the 13 rounds," Smathers added.
The team now looks to wrap up their season at the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championships hosted at BC this weekend.
"I'm excited for NIWFAs," Bryant said. "It'll be a long day, too, but I think we're prepared for it after this weekend."
