Despite being unable to take home their first ACC crown, there’s plenty of hope on the horizon for the Blue Devils fencers.
Notre Dame won both men’s and women’s team competitions of the first ACC Fencing Championships this weekend. But Duke took the second position and three freshmen of the men’s squad secured bronze medals in the individual contests.
“I’m very pleased with the performance of our team,” head coach Alex Beguinet said. “Notre Dame was very hard rock to break for both men’s and women’s, but we did very well. And three freshmen got medals, which is very promising for the future.”
The conference competition, held in Chapel Hill, N.C., started Saturday morning. The Blue Devil men’s squad, ranked ninth in the country, routed North Carolina 19-8 and Boston College 20-7 in the team contest Saturday morning. The foil squad took down the Tar Heels 8-1, while the sabers registered a solid 9-0 victory against the Eagles.
In the final match, however, Duke fell to No. 2 Notre Dame 17-10. Led by freshmen Dakota Nollner, who had a 3-0 ledger, the epée squad was the only team that beat the Fighting Irish, delivering a 5-4 victory.
“It would have been nice to beat Notre Dame,” freshman foil Jan Maceczek said. “But we fenced really well, so we can’t be upset about that.”
One Blue Devil freshman per weapon earned a bronze medal in the individual competition Saturday afternoon.
In the foil category, Maceczek reached the semifinals with nine victories during pool play. After losing to Notre Dame’s Virgile Collineau 6-15, the Duke rookie beat Collineau’s teammate Hazem Khazbak 15-11 to secure third place.
Freshman Dean Ischiropoulos had 12 wins during pool play in the epée contest but lost to Boston College’s Ethan Grab 12-15 in the semifinals. Ischiropoulos, however, rebounded to defeat Tar Heel Matthew Shlimak 15-11 in the duel for the bronze medal.
Rounding out the rookie trio, Pascual di Tella also registered 12 victories during pool play in the saber competition. After losing 9-15 in the semifinals, the freshman captured third place by beating the Fighting Irish’s John Hallisten 15-11.
For the first time in the history of the competition, the ACC hosted a fencing contest for women. Duke finished second again, behind second-ranked Notre Dame.
Led by the saber and foil teams going 5-4 each, the Duke women’s squad also took down the cross-town rival North Carolina 14-13 Sunday morning. Notre Dame, however, defeated the Blue Devils 8-19 in the second round. In their last match, the Duke fencers bounced back and routed Boston College 18-9. The saber team, consisting of freshmen Jennifer Ling, Natalie Moszczynski and Alexandra Viqueira, beat the Eagles 9-0.
“My experience [in the team competition] was a roller coaster,” Ling said. “UNC beat us in our home meet, so we took our revenge. Notre Dame is a really hard team, but we gave them a run for their money.”
Beguinet said that although the women’s squad had hard battles against the Eagles and the Tar Heels, he was very pleased with their victories.
Freshman saber Haley Fischer was the only fencer of the women’s squad who reached the semifinals in the individual contest Sunday afternoon. The rookie was defeating Claudia Kulmacz 13-11, but had to withdraw the contest due to injury.
“That is a very sad story,” Beguinet said. “Haley got a concussion when she was on her way to win the bout. She was very upset about not being able to finish the match but she’s okay and safe now and that’s the principal thing.”
The Duke fencers will return to competition for the NCAA Mid/South Atlantic Regional March 7 in Durham.
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