For a women's fencing team that will be graduating most of its members, it was an emotional day Saturday as it traveled to and defeated North Carolina.
The tournament in Chapel Hill brought together the varsity fencing squads from Duke, UNC and Northwestern, and club fencing squads from UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Charlotte.
The women went 3-1 against the three other schools, besting Greensboro and Charlotte and the Tar Heels, but ultimately losing to Northwestern.
"It was a real emotional highlight-we didn't beat them last year, so it was a good comeback time for us," said Mica Glod. "I'm so ecstatic that we beat UNC, it's our senior year and the women's team is mostly comprised of seniors, so it was really gratifying to stomp on them one last time."
The men's fencing team went 3-1, beating Northwestern, Greensboro and Charlotte, and lost to the Tar Heels.
"I think we fenced really well against the club teams, but when it came against Chapel Hill, we didn't perform as well as we could have," said senior captain Bob Manchen.
The men's foil team performed well against all of the teams except for the Tar Heels. Manchen said, "The men's foil team did really well against the three teams we beat, but we really under-performed against Chapel Hill. I think we have a better foil team than they do, but we went 3-6."
Freshman David Bright was one Blue Devil to come out ahead.
"David did a good job-he pulled a 2-1 job against UNC; he was very collected, very focused against Chapel Hill," sophomore Mike Baughman said.
The saber team went 5-4 against UNC and undefeated against the three other squads. Baughman captured three of the saber squad's victories against the Tar Heels.
One person who deserved recognition according to Manchen was Mark Maratto. Maratto, a senior who had not yet competed this year, went 5-2 against Northwestern, Greensboro and Charlotte.
Toward the beginning of the match against the Tar Heels, the women's epée team was having difficulty finishing off its bouts, losing a number of those by a 5-4 margin. By the end of the meet, however, Duke's situation had greatly improved.
"What's most important is that the women's team won overall," Glod said.
Senior Jen Brockett was also excited about the victory over the Tar Heels. "We had lost to them last year, and with the basketball team, I had a personal agenda to beat them this year. I had been training so hard and was very excited to come out and do so well. My first bout, I came out and won 5-0."
The notable performances from the women's foil team against the two varsity teams were Brockett (7-1), Ann Stewart (6-2) and Sarah Hamilton (6-2).
Though Brockett feels that the team should have beaten Northwestern, they were the Blue Devils' first match, and Northwestern was already warmed up.
Though this marked the end of the scheduled meets, a number of fencers from both the men's and women's teams will qualify to fence in the regional championships-from which point they have the opportunity to advance onto the NCAA Championships.
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