By SYDNEY ALTSCHULER
This weekend, Cornell’s fencing team competed in the Ivy League National Championships in Providence, R.I. The Red went 2-4, defending its No. 5 spot among the Ivies for the second year in a row. The squad picked up two wins against Yale and Brown, but fell to Columbia, Harvard, Penn and reigning champion Princeton.
The round-robins spanned two days as the Red took on No. 1 Princeton, No. 5 Columbia and No. 7 Penn on day one and No. 3 Harvard, Brown and Yale on day two. The Red struggled on opening day, enduring three tough losses to three of the Top-10 teams in the nation. The match against Penn, however, almost went in Cornell’s favor.
According to senior April Whitney, the squad believes it has the ability to edge out Penn, and move up a spot in the rankings.
“I think next year we have the potential to come a place higher by defeating Penn, since this year it was a very close match,” she said.
The narrative on the weekend became a story of true resilience. Cornell came back on day two determined to get on the board. In the first match of the day, the Red was tenacious in its pursuit to beat Brown, and ultimately bested the Ivy foe, 14-13.
The epee squad broke the tie, defeating the Bears, 5-4, to tip the scales in the Red’s favor. Freshman Victoria Wines was the driving force behind the epee’s victory, completing a perfect sweep of all her bouts in a 5-4 Cornell triumph.
According to Wines, the Red stood collectively strong in a high-pressure atmosphere.
“I thought we [the team] handled ourselves well against the tough competition,” she said. “I hope that we can continue improving and do even better next year.”
Sophomore Angelica Gangemi and Whitney were both instrumental in Cornell’s 8-1 foil decision, each going 3-0 in their respective bouts. Senior Christine McIntosh also came through with a 2-1 finish.
However, despite gaining some positive momentum, the squad stumbled in the middle match against Harvard and lost, 21-6. The Red had to pick up another win to match its results from last year and defend its fifth place ranking in the conference.
Oliver Kliewe/ Sun Senior PhotographerSlicing Ivy | For the second year in a row, the Red defends its fifth place standing