The Duke fencers went to Penn State on Saturday to face some of the toughest competition they'll see all season. Although they returned Sunday morning without a stunning upset or dramatic come-from-behind victory, the Blue Devils brought back with them valuable experience and a brief litany of personal and team achievements.
Of the four teams against which it was competing, the men's fencing team defeated Penn and Haverford and ultimately fell to powerful Stanford and six-time national champion Penn State. The women also beat Haverford, but lost overall to Penn as well as Stanford and Penn State.
The two most outstanding performances of the day came from Andrew Mahen, a freshman men's saber fencer, and junior women's epée fencer Katarine Izyanik. Mahen went 10-3 and Izyanik recorded 10 wins while giving up only five bouts.
"Andy was very solid against everyone," said junior captain Mike Baughman. "He started out a little slow against Penn State, but then we all did. He's a great addition to the team-he did a really great job."
Mahen also had an impressive victory against Dave Levalle, a Stanford freshman who Baughman said is prominent on the national circuit.
Senior foil Joann Kleinneiur's victory over Penn State junior Cecilia Esteva, who finished 10th in the NCAA individual tournament last year, proved to be the most dramatic moment for the women's team.
Elliott Chorn, a freshman epée fencer, also fenced well for the Blue Devils.
"He added a lot of talent to the team," Baughman said.
Katherine Nichols, women's team captain and epée fencer, was happy with the team's performance at the tournament.
"As a team, we did really well," she said. "Against Penn State, we could have fenced better, but they're the more talented team. We fenced Haverford, which is a weaker team, and crushed them. Everyone fenced really well against [Penn], especially the guys."
Judith Jacobson, sophomore women's foil fencer, wasn't as excited about the foil team's performance.
"We didn't do too well against Penn State, U. Penn or Stanford. It was quite a mediocre day," she said.
Although Nichols expressed concern about the team's endurance at the last meet in Chapel Hill, it didn't appear to be a problem this past weekend against the larger field of opponents.
"Endurance was not a factor, I don't think it was," Nichols said. "We were fencing better as the day went along."
"It was the first trip back from break, but this is kind of standard routine," Baughman added. "We'll take long trips and fence a lot of teams at once. Coach Beguinet told us that we got a lot stronger as the day went on. Everyone was fencing with a lot more intensity and a lot more skill."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.