The North Carolina fencing teams began the spring season at the Penn State Dual Meets this weekend in University Park, Pa. The women's team finished 2-3, and the men went 1-4 during the event.
What happened?
The Tar Heels were up against tough competition in the Penn State Dual Meets. Competitors included Penn State, Penn, Duke, Yale, Columbia, Haverford and Temple.
The Tar Heels faced Columbia on Round 1 of the meet, and both the men's team and women's team lost, 17-10. The Tar Heel women lost sabre, 6-3, foil, 5-4, and epee, 6-3. The Tar Heel men won in foil, 5-4, but lost in sabre, 8-1, and epee, 5-4.
Making a comeback in Round 3, the Tar Heel women defeated Penn, 17-10. UNC won sabre, 6-3, foil, 6-3, and epee, 5-4. The Tar Heel men lost to Penn, 17-10, with scores of 5-4, 5-4 and 7-2 in sabre, foil and epee, respectively.
Both Tar Heel teams suffered losses in Rounds 4 and 5. The UNC women lost, 21-6, to Yale. The Tar Heels dropped sabre, 6-3, foil, 9-0, and epee, 6-3. They followed that up with another loss to Penn State, 18-9, but not without a 5-4 win in foil.
On the men's side, UNC fell to Yale, 20-7. They dropped sabre, 5-4, foil, 8-1, and epee, 7-2. They lost to Penn State by the same score, 21-6, with scores of 6-3 in sabre, 9-0 in foil, and 6-3 in epee.
Despite losses in the two rounds prior, North Carolina finished the competition strong with a win for both the men’s and women’s teams in the final round. The Tar Heel women defeated Haverford 23-4, dominating sabre, foil, and epee with scores of 7-2, 9-0, and 7-2, respectively. The Tar Heel men won sabre, 6-3, foil, 6-3, and epee, 9-0, to finish 21-6 against Haverford.
