Men's saber sends three to semifinals at Regionals

Leon Rotenstein, Curtis Wilson and Kyle Berney
Leon Rotenstein, Curtis Wilson and Kyle Berney

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sophomore Joanne Carminucci (Brewster, N.Y./North Salem)  and rookie Jessica Gets (Morganville, N.J./Marlborough) each reached the final round of competition in the women's foil competition at the 2017 NCAA Northeast Regional today at Yale University. The duo will be up for selection to the NCAA Championships this week.

Gets entered the competition seeded 11th and Carminucci was 15th. Carminucci went 5-1 in the first round, while Gets was 4-2. Both fencers went 3-3 in the semifinal round to snag the 11th and 12th spots in the finals – the last two spots available. In the championship round, Carminucci went 3-8 to secure 10th place overall, while Gets was unable to pick up  a win, finishing in 12th. Both will wait until Tuesday for the official NCAA announcement to see if they have been selected to the National Collegiate Championships. The Northeast region receives nine berths in women's foil. Columbia University finished with the top three spots in the final rankings – one more than can be accepted to the NCAA championships – but host Yale's Sarah Pak finished just one touch behind Carminucci in the standings and entered the Regionals with a higher seed, meaning she will also be eligible for the final spot from the region. Carminucci and Pak split a pair of meetings on the afternoon. Even if Pak gets selected, Carminucci and Gets will be up for two at-large berths from across the nation.

Across the other weapons today, men's saber had the best showing for the Judges, as all three of the team's representatives reached the semifinal round. Rookie Leon Rotenstein (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) went 4-2 in the opening round, while junior Kyle Berney (Shreveport, La./Caddo Magnet School) was 3-3 and junior Curtis Wilson (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) was 2-4 but qualified with the 21st and final spot in the semifinal round. All three posted two wins in the semis, including a win for Wilson over a fencer from the defending national champions from Columbia, but it wasn't enough for any to secure spot in the finals. Rotenstein and Wilson each exceeded their seed in the standings, with Rotenstein placing 15th as the 19th seed and Wilson 16th as the 28th seed, while Berney was seeded 16th and finished 18th.

The Judges also had two fencers reach the semifinals in men's foil. Senior Len Grazian (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and junior Elishua Litle (Haifa, Israel/Reali – Beit Beram) each went 3-3 in their initial pool to reach the second round. Each picked up two wins – including two for Grazian against foes from rival NYU, one for Litle over the fifth-place finisher from Harvard – but each needed an additional win to reach the finals. In 17th and 19th places, Grazian and Litle each surpassed their seeds, by two and one places, respectively.

Brandeis had two more semifinalists – senior Nina Sayles (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Loomis Chaffee) in the women's saber and junior Hunter Stusnick (New Vernon, N.J./Chatham) in men's epee. Sayles went 3-3 in her first round, with wins over Cornell, NYU and Sacred Heart, but despite posting a win over the eventual bronze medalist from Columbia in the second round, missed out by one win, finishing in 16th place, three spots below her tournament seed. Stusnick went 4-2 in the opening round, including a win over the sixth-place finisher from Columbia, but had just two wins in the second round, finishing in 17th place after entering as the 27th seed. Junior Liz Feller (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) was the top women's epee finisher in 30thplace.

Full results from the 2017 NCAA Northeast Regional Fencing Championships at Yale are available at http://www.escrimeresults.com/NCAA/NE/2017/index.htm