The Drew University women’s and men’s fencing teams headed to Philadelphia on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26, respectively, to compete at Temple University. As an opening to the 2025-26 season, the Rangers took on multiple Division I, III and club teams as part of their invitation to the Nikki Franke Classic.
With several members of the starting line-up reaching the exciting and nerve-racking direct-elimination round, Drew had a spirited couple of days and saw standout performances from the school’s saber and épée squads.
Though both teams attended the event on separate days, the tournament was structured the same for each. The Rangers participated in a first round of pools to determine who advanced to the second round and who was eliminated. Those who were defeated then fenced in a consolation pool, while the triumphant fencers competed in direct elimination bouts based on how they fared in a second series of pools.
Seven fencers from Drew’s women’s squad made it to the knockout stage on the first day, fighting hard with precise attacks and decisive aggression to compete against top-rated fencers from schools like New York University, Boston College and Duke University, among others. All three foil fencers, led by Captain Isabella Hatzoglu (‘26), were joined by two sabers, Sabrina Holmes (‘29) and Ava Insinga (‘29), and épées Emily Varhaul (‘29) and Jessey Rejano (‘29) in the table of 64.
Insinga went head-to-head against a Duke fencer, snagging a 15-13 victory with well-timed parries and hard-won attacks. She advanced to the table of 32, where she lost 5-15 to another member of Duke’s women’s saber squad.
“Being a first-year at Temple was really exciting,” Insinga said of the experience. “I’ve done individual style tournaments before, but what made Temple so different was the support from coaches and teammates cheering for me behind the strip. It felt really empowering and I can’t wait to do it again.”
From Drew’s women’s foil squad, Filiz Erdogan (‘28) won an intense 15-14 bout against Hunter College in the first direct elimination round. She then faced off against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology fencer in another close bout, where Erdogan was defeated 12-15.
On the men’s side, all nine fencers representing all three weapons managed to advance to the direct-elimination stage on the second day.
Épée Lupo Sala (‘28) not only advanced to the knockout stage with eight straight wins in pools and no defeats, but prevailed over Hunter and the University of North Carolina in 15-8 and 15-12 bouts, respectively. Although he ultimately lost to Pennsylvania State University in an 8-15 bout in the table of 16, these wins ended up securing Sala 10th place among 84 épée competitors.
Henri Degremont (‘26) of the men’s foil squad also advanced from the table of 64 by earning a resounding 15-4 against Johns Hopkins University. Moving on to the table of 32, Degremont battled fiercely to score 10 touches against another Hopkins fencer before eventually losing the bout.
Leading the men’s saber squad, Nalby Varoqua (‘29) placed 31st at the tournament after defeating NYU 15-13 and moving on to the table of 32, where he fought hard against MIT in an 11-15 bout.
Both the men’s and women’s squads are expected to compete again and continue their season at Vassar College on Sunday, Nov. 9.
Eva Esqueda is a senior majoring in media and communications and triple minoring in French, American Studies, Film Studies.
