The Brandeis fencing team had a successful day on Saturday at the Big One Tournament, hosted by Smith College.
On the women's side, sophomore Vikki Nunley (Glen Gardner, N.J./Voorhees) earned bronze medal honors in foil action. She went undefeated in pool play at 6-0, allowing just six touches against in her six bouts to claim the sixth seed in tournament action. In the first two rounds, she dominated opponents from MIT and Wellesley, 15-4, She knocked off the third seed, Allison Chew of Mount Holyoke in the quarterfinals, 11-10, before bowing in the semis to the eventual champion, Katherine Hawrot of Brown, 15-11.
On the men's side, four fencers medaled. Senior Adam Austin (Dix Hills, N.Y./Commack) and junior Alex Powell (Upper Montclair, N.J./Montclair) both took gold, while senior Jon Rollock (Gilford, N.H./Gilford) and rookie Julian Cardillo took the bronze medal home.
Austin went undefeated in pool play in the saber, going 6-0, and was seeded third into the direct elimination. In the quarterfinals, he had to fence against teammate Rollock, who was also undefeated after pool play and seeded second. In a close bout, Austin defeated Rollock 15-10.
Alex Powell went 5-1 in pool in the epee competition, and was ranked eighth afterwards. During the direct elimination round, Powell had to fence fellow teammates Harry Kaufer (Newton, Mass./Newton South) in the round of 32, and Tucker Robinson-Neff (Gloucester, Mass./St. John's Prep) in the round of 16. In the gold medal bout, he and his opponent, Jackson Crane from MIT, went into overtime. With less than a minute on the clock, Powell clinched the bout at 12-11.
Rookie Julian Cardillo (Medford, Mass./St. Johns) went 6-0 in the first round of foil action, and was rated second after pools. In the semifinal round of direct elimination, Cardillo fenced a difficult bout against Ethan Paterson from Sacred Heart University, and was defeated with a close score in overtime, 14-15.
Vikki Nunley and Adam Austin were awarded University Athletic Association fencing Athlete of the Week honors for their performances this weekend.