UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The men's and women's fencing teams took to the White Building for the final time this season as they hosted their last home dual series of the year. The teams fenced against Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, North Carolina and Haverford. Additionally, the Penn State women's fencing team fenced Temple's women's team.
The men finished the day defeating five of their six opponents. Their five wins came against Yale, Penn, Duke, North Carolina, and Haverford. Their only defeat came against Columbia.
The women won four duals while also dropping three. Their four wins came against Yale, Duke, North Carolina, and Haverford. They dropped their matches to Columbia, Penn, and Temple.
Both Nittany Lion fencing teams started the day off with a pair of 17-10 wins against Yale. Strong performances by men's saber Inti Farfan-Bayerl (Morrison, Colo.) and Ethan Mullennix (San Francisco, Calif.) and women's saber fencer's Pauline Conscience (Paris, France), Zara Moss (Cranberry Township, Pa.), and Kelli Wozniak (Westerville, Ohio) helped secure the early wins.
In the second round, both teams narrowly dropped their matches to Columbia. The men were defeated 12-15, while the women were defeated 12-15.
Against Penn, the men racked up their second win of the day defeating the Quakers 17-10. Epee and foil fencers went a combined 12-6 in this round. The women, again, narrowly dropped their dual 13-14.
Before the Duke match, six seniors were recognized during the annual Senior Day celebrations: Alissa Gozali(Singapore), Andrew Grass (Burke, Va.), Felipe Rosario (Maplewood, N.J.), Jade Rowland (Princeton Junction, N.J.), Andrey Ostatnigrosh (Fresno, Calif.), and Barbara VanBenthuysen (Spring,Texas).
Both teams would then go on to pick up their second pair of wins against the Blue Devils. The men had another strong saber performance, winning 15-11 while the women secured a 15-12 victory thanks to a strong foil performance by Lodovica Bicego (Vicenza, Italy), Sofia McGoff-Medero (Gurabo, Puerto Rico), and Jade Rowland (Princeton Junction, N.J.).
The women faced off against Temple and narrowly dropped that dual, 13-14.
To conclude the day, both teams picked up a pair of 24-3 wins against Haverford. Women's saber swept Haverford opponents 9-0. Men's foil and epee registered two 9-0 sweeps against Haverford.
Penn State will be in action again next weekend when they will travel to Queens, N.Y. for another dual meet series, hosted by St. John's University, on Saturday, Jan. 18th. Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on Facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.
