Last weekend, Duke head coach Alex Beguinet and his fencers could not hit the road to compete in the Philadelphia Invitational due to the impeding winter weather conditions caused by Winter Storm Jonas.
It could end up being a blessing in disguise.
This weekend, with some Blue Devils still recovering from their ailments, Duke will have to adapt to another unforeseen change in the schedule. The Blue Devils were supposed to travel to Evanston, Ill., to participate in the Northwestern Duals, but Northwestern’s Henry Crown Sports Pavilion is undergoing renovations, so the Blue Devil bus will now make the 700-mile trek to South Bend, Ind. instead.
“This past weekend, it was a bit of a rest station. A lot of people were sick. When they tell me that, I don’t want to see them in the gym,” Beguinet said. “So it was a good thing for them to rest.”
Beguinet’ squad will take on some of the top teams in the nation this weekend in its second competition of the spring slate at Notre Dame’s Castellan Family Fencing Center. The Northwestern Duals run Friday through Saturday and will host 16 schools, including the Fighting Irish—who boast the nation's top-ranked women's squad and the No. 2 men’s team—and other highly ranked teams including Ohio State and Princeton.
“[This tournament] is pretty important. It’s going to be two exhausting days of competition with strong teams, which we need because last weekend we didn’t do anything [because of] the snow,” Beguinet said. “The teams that we are going to encounter are almost all of them high-caliber. It will be a tough weekend.”
The Blue Devil fencers opened their spring gauntlet at the Penn State Duals Jan. 16, when the men’s and women’s squads each posted a 3-2 record.
Led by sophomore saber Pascual di Tella, the men’s team—ranked No. 9 in the nation—upset top-ranked Colombia 15-12 and defeated Haverford 21-6 and Yale 16-11. Di Tella notched an individual 12-3 record and his classmate Dakota Nollner claimed 10 bouts competing with his epee. In the foil category, freshman Will Feldman and sophomore Jack Maceczek combined for 14 wins.
The saber tandem of sophomores Haley Fisher and Jennifer Ling—who both qualified for the NCAA championships last season—paced the women’s squad with a combined 22-8 ledger in victories against No. 8 Penn State 15-12, Haverford 22-5 and Yale 17-10. In the foil category, junior Julia Lee and freshman Kristen Coury captured 11 wins apiece and senior Isabella Barna registered seven wins for the epee team.
Thanks to their impressive performances in the Penn State Duals, di Tella and Fisher were named ACC Male and Female Fencer of the Week, respectively, Jan. 21. Both sophomores will look to continue shining on the piste this weekend and get ready for the annual Duke Meet, which starts Feb. 6.
“Those two are doing very well,” Beguinet said. “The expectations for them are as good as last year or even better.”
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