The Hopkins women’s fencing team went undefeated at the 2014 Eastern Women’s Fencing Conference to claim its fifth consecutive title. Going 6-0 on the day, the Blue Jays are now 16-7 and are also finished with the dual-meet portion of their season. With a 45-6 record through six matches, Hopkins won its fourth strait Foil title.
Opening the day against the host Hunter College, the Blue Jays went 25-2 with senior Jackie Heath, junior Ilana Regenbogen and sophomore Ashley Lau combining for nine wins. Also going 9-0 were senior Liz Caris and freshmen Katherine Couch and Rachel Jandak in the Epee. In the Sabre, junior Rachel Kalina and sophomore Isabella So won three bouts apiece pushing Hopkins to a 7-2 victory. In the second round, Hopkins went completely undefeated with a 27-0 win over Yeshiva.
In round three, Hopkins defeated Drew with a score of 24-3. Heath led the Blue Jays in the Foil, winning all three of her bouts. Also assisting in the Foil was Lau and Regenbogen, who each won a pair in the 7-2 win. A shutout in the Epee was led by Green and Caris while Kalina and So combined for six wins in an 8-1 win in the Sabre.
Hopkins would then follow with an 18-9 victory over the City College of New York, while winning the Foil and Epee. So would have three wins in the Sabre, however, CCNY would claim the Sabre by a close 5-4 score.
Hopkins took a close 15-12 decision over Haverford despite winning only the Foil. Viqueira won all three of her bouts while getting two each from Heath and Lau in a 7-2 win in the Foil for the Blue Jays.
Heath, who went 13-1 on the day and 54-17 on the season, led the Foil squad. Viqueira followed behind with 11 wins in 12 bouts to improve to 44-14 on the season while also earning her 100th career win. Leading the Epee squad was Jandak, who went 11-1 on the day and now holds a season record of 28-8. Leading the Sabre squad was So who went undefeated on the day with an 18-0 record and 42-19 on the season.
The Hopkins men’s fencing team went 2-3 overall this past weekend at the Duke Invitational. Leading the team on Saturday was sophomore Glenn Balbus who won a team-best 13 bouts. Balbus’ performance helped guide the Blue Jays to a 19-8 victory over MIT and a 17-10 victory over Air Force. Unfortunately, Hopkins suffered losses to Brandeis (18-9), North Carolina (18-9) and to 10th-ranked Duke (18-9). Hopkins is now 12-9 on the season.
Starting the day off against Brandeis, the Blue Jays would lose all three weapons by a score of 6-3. Sophomore Mark Zimmermann led Hopkins in the Epee with a pair of wins with Balbus doing the same in the Foil and junior Aravind Menon also doing so in the Sabre.
The Blue Jays then took on the Air Force Academy, sweeping all three weapons. Zimmermann and senior Jay DeYoung together totaled four wins, while DeYoung came through with the clutch win in the eighth bout of the Epee. In the Foil, Balbus provided three wins, giving Hopkins an easy 7-2 win. In the Sabre, winning two bouts each were junior Paul Vitale and freshman Patrick Rose, with Rose clinching the win in the eighth bout.
In the next round, Hopkins picked up their second straight win by defeating the Engineers of MIT. Counteracting a 5-4 loss in the Epee, was a 7-2 win in the Sabre and an 8-1 win in the Foil. Leading the Foil was senior Evan Stafford who won all three of his bouts. In the Sabre, Menon, Rose and freshman Daniel Dembner combined for six wins in the Blue Jays victory.
The following round would see North Carolina stopping the Blue Jays win streak. The Tar Heels swept all three weapons allowing only one win apiece from DeYoung, sophomore Brent Schottenfeld and freshman Dylan Etzel in a 6-3 loss in the Epee. Combining in four wins in the 4-5 loss were Balbus and Stafford, while Rose won a pair in the 2-7 loss in the Sabre.
Ending the day against the host Duke, the Blue Jays were able to grab a 6-3 win in the Foil with the help of Balbus, who won three bouts, and junior Robert Goldhirsch, who earned a pair of wins. Zimmermann provided the only win in the 1-8 loss in the Epee for Hopkins while Menon earned two wins for the Blue Jays in the 2-7 loss in the Sabre.
Both teams return to action on 2/16: the women at the EWFC Individual Championship and the men at the NJIT Invitational.
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