WALTHAM, Mass.- Tonight a dominating performance by the saber squad led the Brandeis University women's fencing squad to a 17-10 victory over the Wellesley College Blue. The Judges took two out of the three weapons and improved to 8-5 on the season while the Blue fall to 6-9.
In the saber competition, Brandeis jumped out to an excellent start, winning their first seven bouts before splitting the final two for the 8-1 decision. Rookie Jaclyn Hammond (Bernardsville, N.J./Gill St. Bernards) and sophomore Deborah Abiri (Old Westbury, N.Y./North Shore) led the way with undefeated performances, each fencing going 3-0. Rookie Nina Sayles (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Loomis-Chaffee) was also undefeated, taking the two bouts she fenced in.
The first weapon to complete their three rounds were the foilists. The Judges took a close competition 5-4. Brandeis jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead as sophomore Caroline Mattos (Cumberland, R.I./LaSalle Acad.), classmate Emilia Dwyer (New York, N.Y./Hunter H.S.), and senior Vikki Nunley (Lebanon, N.J./Voorhees) each won their first bout. Still, Wellesley fought back and took two of the next three bouts to close the deficit to 4-2 at the end of the second round. In the third round, sophomore Annie Kim (Morganville, N.J./Freehold) put any worries to bed as she won the first bout to give Brandeis the all-important fifth victory.
The Brandeis epee squad had the same fast start as the other weapons but could not close out the win. Led by a pair of victories from sophomore Gwendolyn Mowell (Wyckoff, N.J./Indian Hills) the Judges claimed a 4-1 advantage in the second round. However, the Blue fought back behind junior Kathryn Ledbetter (Golden, Colo./Fairview) who won two of the final four bouts, including the weapon-clinching bout five touches to four, to give Wellesley a 5-4 victory.
Brandeis continues their season with the second Northeast Conference meet of the year hosted by Boston College on Saturday January 25th. The Blue resume their schedule on Sunday January 26th when they will be hosting the Wellesley Invitational.