Tenters in Krzyzewskiville were woken up Friday and Saturday morning to the sound of foils, sabers, and epees clanking together inside Card Gymnasium.
Duke's men's and women's fencing teams hosted their annual dual meet tournament this past weekend, finishing third and second, respectively. Ohio State won the men's competition and Temple edged out the Blue Devils for the women's crown.
The men finished 3-2 Friday to improve their record on the season to 11-5. Duke won its first three matches of the day, defeating MIT 14-13, Johns Hopkins 21-6 and North Carolina 17-10. The team performed particularly well in the foil, where it amassed 27 victories throughout the tournament to finish second in the event behind Ohio State.
Freshman Benjamin Hendricks completed the tournament with a 14-1 record in the foil.
Against the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils' epee team finished with a 7-2 edge. Junior Nathan Bragg posted a 3-0 record against UNC to lead the way and improved to 44-4 on the season.In its other two matches, Duke lost to the Buckeyes 17-10, and narrowly to Brandeis 14-13.
Saturday, the women fought to a 3-2 record, and placed second in the overall team competition, accumulating 75 victories to Temple's 81. They also captured the epee title and finished third in saber.
"The team did very well," head coach Alex Beguinet said. "They were a strong cohesive team."
The Duke women (9-7) won their first two matches by beating MIT, 16-11, and Johns Hopkins, 21-6. The epee squad enjoyed success all day. Freshman Anne Kercsmar, who posted a 15-0 record, led her teammates Jaimie West and Dorothy Hubbard to 31 victories, four more than second-place North Carolina.
"I felt pretty good the whole weekend," Kercsmar said. "It really helped to be home and that gave me a sense of comfort. I've been having some ups and downs, and this weekend I was a little more consistent with my fencing."
Ibtihaj Muhammad also had an undefeated record of 15-0 for the tournament in the saber event. The saber team had 25 victories and finished just one shy of event-winners Brandeis and North Carolina.
"Had we won one more bout we could have taken first place [in saber]," Muhammad said. "We definitely fenced really well on Saturday."
Duke lost its matches with the Tar Heels 15-12 and Temple 16-11, but rebounded to beat Brandeis in the final round of the tournament, 15-12.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.