For two days this weekend, six fencing teams from around the country gathered in Card Gym to take their stabs at winning the Duke Invitational.
The Duke men fenced through Friday afternoon and the women picked up and finished their half of the tournament Saturday. When it was all over, the men had accumulated an impressive list of achievements, beating UNC, Air Force, Ohio State and Rutgers but losing to fencing powerhouse Notre Dame. The women, whose worst enemy at times seemed to be exhaustion, beat Air Force but fell to the other four teams.
Undisputably the best team at the tournament, the Fighting Irish swept its opponents and every one of its squads went home with the first-place trophy.
"Notre Dame historically has a great team, and every year they have all-star fencers," freshman foil Carlo Bertucci said.
Even without the strength of the rest of the team, the Fighting Irish sabers were incredibly powerful, boasting a number of nationally ranked fencers in addition to a saber fencer who ranks third in points on the world circuit.
"For the men, [Notre Dame's] saber team is practically unstoppable," said Duke junior and saber fencer Mike Baughman. "They have a very stacked team. The saber squad carries them against any opponent, but the other [squads] are above average."
Notre Dame's women's team is also incredibly talented, according to Duke women's sophomore foil Judith Jacobson.
"They're one of the toughest teams in the country," she said. "Unfortunately, [the Duke foil squad] didn't win a bout, but it was a good experience. I wish we had fenced them last because they really, really tired us out."
For the Duke men, however, no team aside from the Fighting Irish was able to best them.
"The team definitely kicked some ass," said freshman saber Andy Mahen.
The foil squad (33-12) and the saber squad (29-16) finished the tournament second place in their respective weapons, and the epées (24-21) finished third behind the Fighting Irish and the Scarlet Knights.
The Blue Devil women had a more challenging day. The foil squad finished in fifth place with a 25-55 bout record and the epée squad placed fourth with its final tally at 33-47.
"The women fenced off and on," Baughman said. "The epée team, against Notre Dame, fenced eight bouts to 5-4, but six of those bouts went Notre Dame's way. The total score didn't really reflect how close it was."
Senior captain and epée Katherine Nichols played a key role by keeping together a tired women's team through a very difficult meet.
"[Nichols] did an outstanding job of pulling the team together and keeping it together through the ups and downs," said junior women's epée Katarine Izyanik.
To fill the empty space on the foil squad, the women drafted freshman Sarah Clifford. Despite having difficulty adjusting from epée to the different weapon and style of fencing, Clifford provided support for the team and even won half of her bouts against Air Force.
"I'm very proud of the women, especially the foil fencers and the support of a fourth person-knowing we didn't have to forfeit four bouts," Jacobson said.
Both the Duke men and women had a number of individual and team highlights. For Bertucci, his personal highlight came when he went 3-0 against Carolina's foil team and helped lead the Blue Devils to a striking 22-5 victory over the Tar Heels. Jacobson recalled one bout in which women's freshman foil Nyasha London lost a dramatic bout by only one touch to a Notre Dame fencer who served as an alternate on the U.S. Olympic team.
Some of the men felt that they could have had a better showing against the Fighting Irish, however there was some feeling of accomplishment.
"Going into it, I felt there was a chance," Baughman said. "[Notre Dame] came into the meet very cocky and we did surprise them. The [Duke] epée and foil squads would have had to carry the team, but no squad was really able to do it."
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