M. Fencing defeats St. Johns, Yeshiva

Johns Hopkins Men's Fencing kicked off their season perfectly by sweeping their first three opponents. They easily defeated Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) opponents Virginia Tech, Yeshiva and St. Johns. These were their first conference matches since capturing the conference title last season.

Their largest margin of victory came against Yeshiva. They trounced them 22-5, with the foil squad going a perfect 9-0. Hopkins defeated St. Johns by a margin of 21-6, with foil and epee posting an 8-1 mark and sabre keeping the advantage at 5-4. Despite the overwhelming victory, the team had hoped for a wider margin considering the weakness of the St. John's squad. JHU defeated opponent Virginia Tech 18-9, led by freshman foilist Brian Bishe who posted a 3-0 mark.

Rosenthal acknowledged that facing the weaker teams of the division early helps prepare the team for the season ahead and get back into form.

Sophomore foilist Dan Rosenthal commented, "It was a good warmup meet, we expected to win all three pretty easily, and we did. It was good just to get back into the swing of things."

In addition, the meet gave Hopkins a chance to scout out some of the other conference teams who they will face later in the season.

"[The meets] gave us a little bit of a look ahead towards MACFA [conference competition], because most of the teams were here last weekend," noted Rosenthal.

Sophomore epee Matt Bouloubasis and Bishe each went 8-0 in their bouts, followed by Rosenthal at 7-1 and senior Ryan Schwerzmann at 7-2. Junior foilist Daniel Frank and freshman epee Alex Sinofsky each went 6-2, and freshman Sampreet Niyogi posted a 6-3 mark for the sabre squad.

This year's team adds five recruits with some previous fencing experience. However, Hopkins fencers have traditionally been mostly of the "home-grown" variety. This refers to the JHU fencing practice of taking students with no previous fencing knowledge and molding them into skilled fencers. This system has produced numerous conference championships and individual titles. Practices are nearly every day, with incessant drills and training by coaches and the more experienced fencers.

"Practices are a lot more difficult," said Rosenthal. "I think its a good thing, we will just get better quicker."

Each weapon has a captain, who is responsible for directing the teaching of the new members. "We are looking towards the heads of each squad to pull the new guys along and pull them up to speed," explained Rosenthal.

The team looks ahead to some stiffer competition this weekend. The team heads to Medford, Mass. to face Boston College, Sacred Heart, Tufts, Dartmouth, UMass-Amherst, and University of New Hampshire. Hopkins is looking to avenge tough losses last year to Boston College and Tufts.