Alexa Fitzgerald
On Saturday, December 2, the Rangers fencing teams hosted the Drew Holiday Invitational at the Simon Forum. Women’s fencing turned in an exceptional performance, going 5-0 on the day to remain undefeated at home. The Rangers hold an 11 match win streak, while they improved their record to 23-1 for the season.
The Rangers posted a 19-8 victory over TCNJ, then defeated Florida 20-7. Haverford fell next in a 17-10 win, LIU Post was then knocked off 16-11. They closed the competition beating Fairleigh Dickinson by a score of 17-10.
Saber teammates Emily Huber (‘21), Kayla Ogden (‘21) and Pearl Sutter (‘18) went a combined 26-3 on the day. Huber and Sutter were both 9-1, while Ogden was 8-1. Caitlin Kotz (‘19) continued to dominate, losing only her final match, giving her team a 13-1 record in foil competition. Fellow foil teammate Lydia Segal (‘20) registered a 9-4 record. Meanwhile, Claudia West (‘19) led the epee competition with a 7-4 record.
Drew fielded two seperate men’s team for the event, with the squads posting a combined 4-4 record. The Rangers “A” team earned a 3-1 record, topped TCNJ 25-2, followed by a 19-8 victory over Florida and a 17-10 defeat of Rutgers, while they dropped a 15-12 decision to Haverford. Drew’s “B” team beat TCNJ 18-9, while suffering a 20-7 loss to Rutgers, 14-13 heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Florida, and a 23-4 loss to Haverford.
Jeremy Ferreira (‘21) was one of the men’s top performers, finishing 10-1 in epee competition. Josh Ryan (‘20) earned an 8-1 record in epee, while Michael Rotondo (‘21) contributed nine victories in epee as well. Ryan Baldi (‘21) went undefeated in sabre competition with a perfect 6-0 record. Also, in sabre Nathan Milgram (‘21) earned eight wins. The “A” and “B” squads saw Brian Heist (‘19) post a combined 9-3 record participating in sabre bouts for both squads. Sean Larson (‘20) also saw action in bouts for both teams, ending with a combined 7-5 record. Aleko Graham (‘21) posted a 9-2 mark in foil competition.
The women’s fencing squad also competed on Sunday, December 3 when they hosted the 85th Annual National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) Holiday Tournament in the Simon Forum. Kotz won the silver medal in foil after winning the gold medal last year. Her only loss on the day was to eventual gold medalist in the final round.
Segal and Ogden were both eliminated in the fourth round of competition. Heller, Sutter and Natalya Shcherban (‘19) who was back competing in sabre for the event after filling in an epee at the last two competitions each advanced to the third round of their respective brackets.
The Ranger men’s and women’s fencing teams will each have a six week break, before they both return to action on January 20 and 21 at the Philadelphia Invitational.
