The fencing teams traveled to Colorado this past weekend, with both the men's and the women's squads achieving successful results against competition from the Midwest and West Coast.
The women shone particularly brightly, as they won three of their five bouts, including hard-fought wins over Stanford (16-11) and Air Force (18-9), two nationally recognized programs.
Women's captain Christina Schafer pointed to the victory over the Falcons as especially fulfilling.
"Last year at the Duke meet we lost to [Air Force] pretty badly," the senior said. "This year we beat them. Our foil squad went 9-0 against them, so that was a big achievement for the squad."
Schafer also expressed both pride and surprise at her team's resilient performance this weekend, even as they experienced difficulties adjusting to the thin air of Colorado Springs.
"I think we did well despite [the travel]," Schafer said. "A lot of people had a problem adjusting to the higher elevation, and that was very difficult."
The change in altitude inflicted noticeable casualties among the men's squad, particularly the foil corps which saw its members battle sickness and dizziness.
"It was difficult out in Colorado," sophomore Eric Johnson said. "The high altitude-you wouldn't think it affects performance, but it does."
The men posted two victories of their own over Cal. State-Fullerton and San Diego, both of which were one-sided affairs. In contrast to the women, however, the men suffered a painful 16-11 defeat to Stanford.
Duke coach Alex Beguinet thought the narrow loss would motivate his team for Duke's home meet this upcoming weekend.
"Mostly they are trying right now to work on their mental [approach]," Beguinet said. "A lot of them are trying to psyche themselves up."
Sean Huang echoed his coach's sentiments.
"Against Penn State [two weekends ago], we were pretty focused but then we'd lose focus sometimes," he said. "But against Air Force we improved on that, so I think we're looking forward to this meet."
Johnson added that the home bouts will be against less difficult competition.
"I'm really excited for this meet, because we're going to be going up against teams that are [all beatable]," he said. "We're going to be on our home court and that gives us a big advantage."
The Blue Devils' next match takes place this weekend when the team hosts its only home event of the year.
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