UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State fencing squads will open their 2026-27 season at the 46th Coach Nikki Franke Invitational hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia. The season opener will feature individual competition, running from October 24-25, with Saturday reserved for women’s competition and Sunday for the men’s team.
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
The competition on Saturday is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m., with women’s epee and foil hitting the strip. The first day of the competition will conclude at noon with women’s saber.
On Sunday, the competition continues with men’s epee and foil, which will begin to compete at 8:30 a.m. Men’s saber will conclude competition at the Coach Nikki Franke Invitational at noon.
Competition results can be found on Fencing Time Live.
NITTANY LIONS ON THE STRIP
Returning to the strip on the women’s epee squad are Léna Gyenes and Yuna Tamura, who will begin their sophomore campaigns at Temple. At the 2025 Nikki Franke Invitational, Gyenes earned a 22nd-place finish, and Tamura secured a 26th-place finish. Making her collegiate debut for the women’s epee team is Bella Chen. For the women’s foil team, freshman Anastasia Shmay will make her collegiate debut.
Representing the women’s saber team, Nargiza Jaksybaevna will make her collegiate debut, and Chloe Butman will make her first appearance on the strip as a Nittany Lion as a transfer from St. John’s University.
On the men’s side, Alejandro Lorenzo, Andrea Zanardo and Changhee Han will make their collegiate debuts for the foil squad. Julian Brodsky, Eslam Osama and Robert Hu will compete for the men’s epee team while also making their collegiate debuts on the strip.
Tyson Deck returns to the strip for his sophomore campaign at Temple. At the 2025 Nikki Franke Invitational, Deck claimed a 28th-place finish. Also representing the men’s saber squad are Daniel Iliffe, Enes Kalendar, Jintao Yao, Han Luo and Jonathan Chen, who are all making their collegiate debuts.
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