Fencing Falls Short at Ivy Championships

The fencing team traveled to Brown this weekend for the second half of the 2009 Ivy League Championship. The women lost to No. 5 Columbia, No. 6 Penn and Yale, leaving them in sixth place with a 1-5 Ivy record. Nevertheless, many of the fencers performed well individually and team and co-epee captain junior Katherine Thompson was named second-team All-Ivy.
“The other teams are really good,” said sophomore foil co-captain Jessica Tranquada, “but we fought hard and most people fenced well. We came really close in a lot of bouts, even if that doesn’t show in the score.”
Of the foil squad, which beat Yale, Tranquada said, “The foils did really well. We pulled together and got a lot of bouts we didn’t get in the past, so I was really proud.”
[img_assist|nid=35490|title=Sticking it to the man|desc=Junior Katherine Thompson takes on Yeshiva University opponent on Nov. 23.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
The epee squad, according to junior epee co-captain Tasha Hall, “Did really well, especially against Penn,” which the squad beat.
While the team lost to the majority of its Ivy League opponents, many of the Red’s fencers did well individually. Thompson was the sixth best Ivy saber fencer, which led to her being named second-team All-Ivy.
“I’m really glad I got it because the quality of the fencing was amazing,” Thompson said. “It’s motivating. It makes me want to do my best.”
Although the saber squad lost to all three schools, senior co-saber captain Alex Heiss had positive things to say about her teammates and her hopes for the future.
“We lost some close bouts, but we’ll be fencing the same people for the next couple of meets [at the IFA and NCAA regionals], so we’re happy our losses happened now. This way, we can strategize and beat them the next few times.”