November 30, 2001

Fencing Travels to Yale and NIWFAs

Print More

This weekend will be an important one for the fencing team as it hits the road for a contest against rival Yale tomorrow and competes in the NIWFA tournament at Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday.

The contests this weekend will not mark the beginning of the season, as the squad did compete in the Temple Open on Nov. 3, but that tournament was largely diagnostic — an opportunity for head coach Al Peters and the team to assess its progress and build for the future. The meat of the season begins tomorrow.

“It’s going to be an intense matchup,” sophomore saber squad member Michelle Melnick said of the Yale contest. “We’ve been preparing for it very hard. We’re excited, but confident.”

Ivy League contests usually take on high emotional importance, and while the team will not be lacking for motivation tomorrow, it will need far more than that to defeat the Bulldogs.

“Yale has three very good squads, and we have three very good squads,” Melnick notes. “So there isn’t just one squad or one player who has to play well this weekend, we all do.”

While the Yale contest perhaps jumps out on the calendar, the NIWFA tournament on Sunday will also be a crucial test for the squad early in the season. The tournament boasts a collection of many strong teams. The Red will look to duplicate or surpass a strong performance from last year that saw them place three players in the finals.

Archived article by Andrew Bernie