The Duke fencing teams opened up their season this weekend with mixed results, as both the men's and women's squads competed in a difficult six-team meet at Penn State. The Blue Devils' opponents included third-ranked Penn State, as well as Ohio State, Pennsylvania, Hunter College and archrival North Carolina.
"I think I was expecting a little bit better [performance]," Duke coach Alex Beguinet said. "But overall we did OK."
The men's squad posted a 2-3 overall record, as they recorded a close victory North Carolina (15-12) and a lopsided defeat of Hunter College (26-1).
The men's saber corps delivered a particularly strong performance, including Ben Cohen's three victories over highly touted Penn State opponents.
"The men's saber did very well, which is good," Beguinet said. "But we expect that from them because we have a good team in saber."
Men's captain Andrew Mahen concurred with his coach's assessment, and noted that he and his fellow saberists lost too many close bouts.
"The saber team's going to work on concentrating more on 4-4 bouts, when it comes down to one touch," Mahen said. "We lost a lot of those that we shouldn't have lost."
Mahen acknowledged that the first competition of the season presents certain unique challenges.
"The first meet is always difficult because we're rusty, we're not used to the travel and that kind of stuff," Mahen said. "I think next week we're going to show incredible improvement."
The women's team voiced similar sentiments.
"We fenced for eight hours during the day," Kristina Schafer said. "It's very hard to prepare for that physical exertion, and in practice you don't face the level of competition that you need to prepare for something like this."
Although they posted only one victory against their five opponents, the women's squad felt that the weekend's competition would serve them well in future bouts.
"It makes it a lot easier," Schafer said. "We've now seen really tough competition, plus you get the initial leg exhaustion over with."
Unlike the format at other meets, the Penn State competition did not stagger the starting times of the three weapon classes. Beguinet felt the structure of the meet hurt his squad's sense of team unity.
"I think the spirit of the team was going up and down during the meet," Beguinet said. "At this meet everyone fenced at the same time, so no one can root for their own teammates because they are all fencing."
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