The fencing team dropped two matches this weekend, narrowly falling to the NYU Violets 15-12 on Sunday morning in Jackson Gym after also losing to Air Force 17-10 at Brandeis.
The Tufts epee squad emerged with a 7-2 win in the morning matchup, but it wasn't enough against NYU, as sabre and foil fell 7-2 and 6-3, respectively.
Sophomore epeeist Amani Smathers, who is also an assistant layout editor for the Daily, led the Jumbos with wins in all three of her bouts, while sophomore Rebecca Hughes and freshman Georgia Raines both contributed two wins in epee. Meanwhile, sophomore sabre captain Alex Cheetham and junior foilist Christine Lee both checked in with 2-1 records.
"Epee was really strong today," freshman epeeist Coryn Wolk said.
The highlight of the NYU match came after sabre and foil had ended their rounds and epee was concluding. Smathers was in the midst of fencing the last epee bout as time expired with the score at 4-4.
Despite losing priority in a coin toss to kick off overtime, Smathers fenced aggressively, as both teams crowded the edges of the strip waiting in suspense for the final touch.
"It was pretty intense," Smathers said. "Everyone was watching."
The sophomore epeeist did not disappoint, scoring the final touch on her NYU opponent as her fellow Jumbos celebrated the victory.
"Amani has been working really hard as both a fencer and a leader of the team," coach Jason Sachs said. "I think it was wonderful that she had the opportunity to shine on her own court."
Sachs also praised Cheetham's and Lee's strong performances on Sunday.
"Alex Cheetham continues to excel and Christine Lee has found her old form," Sachs said. "Amani was spectacular and Georgia's cheering squad made the day awesome."
While the epee squad provided a high point during the match, the foil and sabre teams struggled against the Violets. Even so, the Jumbos found solace in the home match, relishing the ability to compete without traveling. Jackson Gym was crowded with spectators for Sunday's home match between the two teams.
"NYU is a challenging Div. I team," Cheetham said. "It was a great experience to fence them at home with our friends cheering."
Sachs remarked that the Tufts crowd this weekend was the biggest one he had witnessed in 15 years of coaching.
NYU had also just come off of a long tournament at Brandeis on Saturday, where the Violets faced off against BC, Air Force, MIT, Brandeis and Haverford. The Violets won four of their five matches, falling only to Brandeis.
"Yesterday was very good ... it was nice to come off of a pretty strong day," NYU coach Steve Mormando said. "[The annual] Tufts meet is always a great meet ... We love fencing here."
The Jumbos also fenced Air Force on Sunday, this time at Brandeis. Although Tufts did not participate in Brandeis' larger Brandeis/MIT Invitational, the Jumbos were able to get in some practice against the Falcons.
Foil fell 5-4 while both sabre and epee lost 6-3. Lee did manage to win all three of her bouts for foil while Cheetham and Smathers both went 2-1 for sabre and epee, respectively. Since the team does not fence Air Force regularly, the Jumbos expected an even bigger challenge, given the usual quality of the Falcons' fencers.
"It's funny because we all went expecting Air Force to be really good," Lee said. "Even though they still won, we did much better than we thought we would."
"None of us are super consistent, and we don't know who the top four fencers are," Smathers said of her epee squad. "We all have good and bad days."
While the epeeists continue to experiment with their lineup, the entire team is preparing for their second Northeast Conference meet at Wellesley this Saturday.
"I am really impressed with how this team is progressing," Sachs said. "They are working hard and improving, which fits right into my motto of work hard, be nice."
