DURHAM, N.C. – The Brandeis men's fencing team met some of the top competition in the nation today at the 2018 Duke Invitational. The Judges were edged by North Carolina, 14-13, a team they had defeated earlier in the season, and fell 22-5 to host at No. 9-ranked Duke and 21-6 to No. 5 Penn State. The Judges picked up a 17-10 win over Johns Hopkins, the only fellow Division III school at the meet.
The Judges opened the meet against UNC, coach Bill Shipman's alma mater. Brandeis won the saber match, 6-3 behind a 3-0 record from senior Kyle Berney (Shreveport, La./Caddo Magnet School) and a 2-1 mark from sophomore Leon Rotenstein (Ashland, Mass./Ashland), but the Judges were unable to finish off the Tar Heels despite owning a 13-11 lead, falling 6-3 in epee and 5-4 in foil.
The Duke match was the only one in which the Judges were unable to win at least one weapon. Senior Curtis Wilson (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) was the only Brandeis fencer to post a winning record against the Blue Devils, going 2-0 in saber action.
Brandeis got on the board in their third match of the day, taking down Johns Hopkins. The foil and saber squads were terrific, going 8-1 and 7-2 against the Blue Jays to earn the win. In saber action, rookies Alex Holtmann (Bad Ueberkingen, Germany / Kantmannische Geislingen) and Garrett Tordo (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) each went 3-0, while in foil, senior Elishua Litle (Haifa, Israel/ Reali Beit Haram) and sophomore Ian Quin (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) were both 2-0.
The Judges ended the day against Penn State. The foil squad picked up an impressive 5-4 win, with Litle going 3-0 and Quin 2-1. The team's other point against the Nittany Lions came from Holtmann in saber.
Overall on the day, Litle posted the teams' best record, going 8-3, while Quin was 6-4. Holtmann at 5-3 and Tordo at 3-0 led the saber squad, and senior Hunter Stusnick (New Vernon, N.J. / Chatham) earned three wins in epee.
The Brandeis women will take on UNC, #10 Duke, #3 Penn State and #7 Temple tomorrow. Both teams are back in action on February 14th at MIT for the annual Beanpot tournament.