WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University fencing team hosted its annual Invitational today, with the Judges posting five wins in their nine matches. The highlight of the afternoon for coach Bill Shipman's squads was a sweep of Ivy League opponent Yale. The women earned a 14-13 win over the Bulldogs, the third year in a row that the Judges earned a win by that score, while the 17-10 victory by the men was Brandeis's first since 2007.
Brandeis also picked up a sweep of Johns Hopkins, with the women winning 19-8 and the men winning 15-12. The women also defeated Air Force, 17-10, while the men dropped a 16-11 decision. The Judges were swept by St. Johns, with both teams falling, 18-9. The women also lost to Cornell by the same score.
In the match against Yale, the women split 7-2 decisions in the first two weapons, with Yale taking the sabre and Brandeis winning the foil. The teams were tied, 3-3, in epee after the first two rotations, but juniors Rosa Zhang (E. Setauket, N.Y./Ward-Melville) and Gwendolyn Mowell (Wyckoff, N.J./Indian Hills) earned wins in the last pairing to help clinch victory. Zhang and Mowell were each 2-1 in the match. Junior foil fencer Caroline Mattos (Providence, R.I./LaSalle Acad.) was the only Judges to go 3-0 against the Elis, but fellow foilists Emilia Dwyer (New York, N.Y./Hunter H.S.) and Boots Xue (Beijing, China / Peking Univ. Affiliated) each went 2-1, while sophomore Ashley Jean (Norwood, Mass./Fontbonne Acad.) picked up two key sabre wins.
On the men's side, the Judges swept all three weapons from Yale. Sabre rolled to a 7-2 victory, while foil and epee were each 5-4 victors. Seniors Adam Mandel (White Plains, N.Y./Masters School) and Jess Ochs-Willard (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) were each 3-0 for the sabre squad. The foil squad saw senior Noah Berman (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) and rookie Guillermo Narvaez (Metepec, Mexico / Technologico de Monterrey) each post 2-1 record, as the two and senior Ethan Levy (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South) all took their final bout to earn the win for the squad. Epee got 2-1 records from junior Justin Kwon (Seoul, Korea/Wasatch Acad.) and rookie Hunter Stusnik (New Vernon, N.J./Chatham).
Against Johns Hopkins, the Brandeis men won 7-2 in foil and sabre to offset an 8-1 epee win by the Blue Jays. Adam Mandel in the sabre and sophomore Len Grazian (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) in the foil each went 3-0. The women swept all three weapons, 7-2 in sabre and foil and 5-4 in epee. 3-0 marks were turned in by Ashley in sabre and Boots Xue in foil.
The women's win over Air Force was keyed by the epee squad, which earned a 9-0 sweep. Gwendolyn Mowell and rookie Liz Feller (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. / Hendrick Hudson) each went 3-0 in epee, while Ashley Jean and sophomore Jaclyn Hammond (Bernardsville, N.J. / Gill St. Bernards) both went 2-1 to help the sabre squad win, 5-4. For the men, foil earned a 5-4 win over the Falcons, while Mandel went 3-0 in a narrow 5-4 loss by sabre.
Against St. Johns, Brandeis's closest weapons were women's foil and men's sabre, which both fell, 5-4. Boots Xue and Adam Mandel each won twice for their respective squads. Ashley Jean was 2-1 in the women's loss to Cornell.
Brandeis fencing returns to action next semester when they head West on January 17 to compete in the Western Invitational at the U.S. Air Force Academy.