DURHAM, N.C. – Facing some of their stiffest competition of the season, the Brandeis University men's fencing team dropped four matches at the 2023 Duke Invitational today. The Judges had two squad wins on the day as they lost to #4 Notre Dame (9-18), Johns Hopkins (11-16), #7 Penn State (9-18) and #9 Duke (8-19). Brandeis finishes their dual meet season with a 16-13 record.

The Judges' two squad wins came against Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins. Against the Fighting Irish, the foil squad won 5-4, but epee and sabre each lost 7-2. Against the Blue Jays, it was epee who were 5-4 victors, but JHU took the other two weapons, 6-3. Men's sabre nearly knocked off Penn State, falling 5-4, while no weapon was closer than 6-3 in the loss to Duke.

Four wins was the most turned in by any Brandeis individual fencer, shared by six: Sophomore Tal Kronrod (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) and senior Ben Rogak (E. Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) in epee; sophomore Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas / Abeka Home School Academy) and first-year Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md. / Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) in sabre and senior Jake Hempe (Coram, N.Y. / Newfield) and junior Luke Ritchie (Baltimore, Md. / St. Paul's School) for the foil squad.

The women take on three of the same four teams tomorrow at Duke, facing Northwestern instead of Johns Hopkins.