March 17, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 17, 2018 - The Penn State men's and women's fencing team qualified ten of twelve possible fencers for the 2018 NCAA Championship.
Penn State will play host to 144 fencers from all over the country as the NCAA Championship will be hosted in Penn State's Multi-Sport Facility on March 22-25. Head coach Wes Glon's Nittany Lions will field ten fencers at the event.
The Penn State fencers who qualified are as follows:
Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas): Anton finished the regular season with a record of 48-25 and claimed 10th place in the men's epee event at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals. This is his second time qualifying for the NCAA championship in his three years here at Penn State. He qualified for last year's championship and finished 11th.
Sebastiano Bicego (Vicenza, Italy): Sebastiano became a Nittany Lion at the start of the spring 2018 semester along with his sister Lodovica, but the late start did not stop him from having a 30-17 record in the regular season and placing 14th in the men's foil event at regionals.
Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.): Andrew is no stranger to the NCAA championship as this is the fourth year he will be making an appearance. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, Andrew was crowned as the men's saber NCAA champion. This season, Andrew finished with a 29-4 record and claimed first place at regionals.
Karol Metyrka (Linden, N.J.): Karol participated in last year's NCAA championship, where he placed ninth. He has qualified for his second championship in his third year at Penn State. Karol finished the season with a 23-14 record and a third-place finish in the men's saber event at regionals.
Anastasia Kalonji (Rennes, France): This is the second time Anastasia has qualified for the NCAA championship. She followed up on two highly productive seasons in her freshman and sophomore year with a 46-17 record and claiming fifth place at regionals.
Barbara VanBenthuysen (Spring, Texas): Barbara missed out on the NCAA championship in her freshman season but has made up for it in her sophomore season by qualifying for this year's championship. She has a 38-17 regular season record, placing first in the women's epee event at regionals.
Lodovica Bicego (Vicenza, Italy): Arriving only a few months ago with her brother Sebastiano, Lodovica has proven to be a great addition to the Nittany Lions with a 30-13 regular season record and a second place in women's foil at regionals.
Isabella Zuzulo (Newtown, Pa.): Isabella has had an incredible freshman season with a 40-25 record and a seventh-place finish in women's foil at regionals.
Karen Chang (Hong Kong, China): This is Karen's third time qualifying in the NCAA championship, having finished second and 12th. Karen has a 28-20 record and placed third in the women's saber event at regionals.
Zara Moss (Cranberry Township, Pa.): Zara has had a great freshman season with a 37-11 record and was crowned a regional champion as she took first at the NCAA regionals this year.
The full list of fencers who qualified for the NCAA championship can be found here: https://www.ncaa.com/news/fencing/article/2018-03-13/ncaa-mens-and-womens-2018-fencing-championship-field-announced
The Nittany Lions will next be in action when they host the four-day NCAA Fencing Championship that will run March 22-25 at Penn State's Multi-Sport Facility. Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on Facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.