It has been an experience-building season for the fencing team this year. After the Jumbos graduated talented seniors and sent all but one current junior abroad, the young team has spent considerable time training new fencers to fill the roster.
Each squad welcomed new freshmen this year with a variety of experience levels. The freshmen joined a strong class of sophomores, including Alex Cheetham, Naomi Bryant, Amani Smathers and Becca Hughes and junior Christine Lee.
Going into the season, the epee team had a bright outlook with experienced fencers Smathers and Hughes, in addition to freshmen Coryn Wolk and Georgia Ranes, both of whom had extensive experience before coming to Tufts. The foil team looked to blend the talent of captain Lee, two returning sophomores and two new freshmen. Meanwhile, the sabre squad was the most vulnerable after graduating Louisa May Zouein, one of the top sabreists in the area. Cheetham led a squad composed of novice fencers this year.
Tufts started out strong in its first individual tournament of the year, "The Big One," with four fencers placing in the top 10. From there, the season was up and down for the Jumbos over a number of meets, and the team ended with a 6-16 record.
While Tufts had few problems with traditionally weaker programs, the team struggled with opponents against whom they had matched up well in the past.
Still, the epee squad routinely gave respectable performances, even against some of the hardest teams in the region.
After the Jumbos had to cancel on the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) championships two weekends ago due to inclement weather, the team headed to its final tournament of the season, NCAA Regionals, with an extra week of rest.
While the last meet did not go as well as the team hoped - no one qualified for Nationals - the Jumbos seemed ready to take a break and reflect before next season.
"I personally wouldn't call our entire team's season successful, but I think the epee team did pretty well as a whole," Wolk said. "And as we had so many freshmen who had never fenced before, I think the team's results were reasonable."
Wolk was certainly the breakout performer for the Jumbos this season. Starting with an overall sixth-place epee finish in the first meet of the season, Wolk ended the season with a 16th-place finish at NCAA Regionals, missing the third round of competition by only one touch. She cites a Nationals berth as one of her main goals for next year.
"My coach back home always emphasized the distinction between being happy with a result and being satisfied with it," Wolk said. "I'd say that I'm pretty happy with how I fenced this season ... but I am definitely not satisfied. I had losing records against plenty of teams that I can improve on and quite a few close losses that I want to reverse next year."
The foil squad spent the season training new freshmen and also had an up-and-down record.
"I thought the season went pretty much as we expected," said Bryant, who is also an arts editor for the Daily. "We weren't one of the strongest teams out there, but we worked hard, and we did really well considering our team is mostly underclassmen."
While the sabre team was hit the hardest by graduation, Cheetham was able to perform well in individual tournaments and train a new group of freshmen.
"It was successful and rewarding for some, but overall, just a season to build up a new team, especially for sabre," Cheetham said. "The start of next year will be interesting for the sabre team because unless a new freshman joins the team, we will only have another starting team. I will return in the fall and look forward to another rewarding season."
The Jumbos will only be graduating one senior this year, sabre fencer Lauren Kari, who helped the Jumbos ease into the season by fencing a few bouts in the early meets. The majority of the current sophomores will be taking one semester off to study abroad.
With the last meet out of the way, the Jumbos seem ready to take a break and return next year with a better-equipped team of rising sophomores. They gained valuable experience for such a young team this year, and they hope it translates into success next year.
"I'm looking forward to fencing with everyone again next season and hopefully fencing better, personally and as a team, since everyone will have more experience," Wolk said.
