Notre Dame Fencing Stats from 2007 Northwestern Duals, in PDF Format
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Feb. 24, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. – The Notre Dame fencing teams wrapped up their 2007 regular-season schedule by going a combined 8-3 at the Northwestern Duals in Saturday action. Both Irish teams lost to top-ranked Penn State (13-14 in women, 11-16 in men), with the women posting a 15-12 win over #9 Temple but being edged by #6 Northwestern as part of their 5-2 day – plus other wins over Cleveland State (25-2), Fairleigh Dickinson (26-1), Johns Hopkins (22-5) and Detroit (24-3). The Notre Dame men closed the season 3-1, with wins over CSU (24-3), Detroit (25-2) and Lawrence (27-0).

(Note: this recap now includes full meet details, with bout-to-bout sequences from the ND women’s 14-13 showdowns with Penn State and Northwesern).

The 4th-ranked Irish women’s squad finishes the season with a 24-4 mark while the number-5 men’s team wrapped up its regular season at 21-5. Notre Dame and Penn State now have split four men’s matches and four women’s matches over the course of the past five seasons (2003-07).

Sophomore Ashley Serrette (18-2) and senior Valerie Providenza (16-1) led a solid day from the Irish women’s sabre squad, with other top records on the women’s side coming from sophomore foilist Adi Nott (17-2) and freshman epeeist Kelley Hurley (12-1), who finished her first season with a 51-4 overall record. On the men’s strips, sophomore epeeist Karol Kostka enjoyed a 10-2 day while seniors Frank Bontempo (foil) and Patrick Ghattas (sabre) also went 10-2 in the final regular-season tournament of their college fencing careers.

The women’s epee team compiled the top season win percentage among the six Notre Dame weapons, winning 77 percent of their total bouts (194-57) to go along with a program-best record in head-to-head matchups (24-4). The women’s foil (.762/192-60; 23-5 head-to-head) and men’s sabre (.756/177-57; 21-5) teams also won more than 75 percent of their bouts, followed by the men’s epee (.722/169-65; 21-5), men’s foil (.688/161-73; 20-6) and women’s sabre (.667/168-84; 21-7) units. The women’s sabre team battled all season minus two-time All-American and 2004 gold medalist Mariel Zagunis, who is taking a leave of absence while training for 2008 Olympic qualification.

Notre Dame-Northwestern Notes – Northwestern’s 5-4 advantage in sabre ended up being the deciding factor, with ND’s 6-3 margin in epee being matched by Northwestern’s 6-3 edge in foil … the Irish jumped out to a 3-0 lead, with sophomore foilist Emilie Prot highlighting the early action in her 5-3 win over All-American Samantha Nemecek (5-3) … NU won three of the next four (4-4) before the Irish 4-4. Notre Dame opened leads of 9-6 and 10-7 … NU answered another 3-win streak, yielding a 10-10 score as the final seven bouts took center stage … sophomore epeeist Kim Montoya’s 4-3 victory over Joanna Niklinska gave the Irish a one-bout advantage, but Kayley French overcame a 2-4 deficit to beat Hurley (5-4) for a 11-11 score …. wins by senior Amy Orlando (4-3 over Christa French) and Nott (5-1 over Natalie Wang) gave ND a 13-12 lead but the Wildcats snatched the final two wins, as Florendo defeated Prot (5-3) and Nemecek topped Bautista (5-2) for the 14-13 victory … Nemecek posted wins over Nott (4-2) and Bautista (5-2) … Nott knocked off All-America Jessica Florendo (5-2), who posted wins over Bautista (5-1) and Prot (5-3) … the Irish faced one other NCAA veteran, with Providenza (5-0) and Serrette (5-4) both bearing Mai Vu (who topped Erin Housing, 5-2).

#4 Notre Dame women vs. #6 Northwestern, bout-by-bout sequence (NU 14, ND13)
WS – Ashley Serrette def. Gina Annunziato, 5-4 … ND leads 1-0
WE – Kelley Hurley def. Christa French, 5-1 … 2-0
WF – Emilie Prot def. Samantha Nemecek, 5-3 … 3-0
WS – Sophie Eustis def. Valerie Providenza, 5-3 … 3-1
WS – Mai Vu def. Erin Housing, 5-2 … 3-2
WE – Amy Orlando def. Joanna Niklinska, 5-4 … 4-2
WS – Eustis def. Serrette, 5-4 … 4-3
WF – Natalie Wang def. Melanie Bautista, 5-2 … 4-4
WE – Kim Montoya def. Kayley French, 5-3 … 5-4
WS – Annunziato def. Housing, 5-1 … 5-5
WS – Providenza def. Vu, 5-0 … 6-5
WS – Eustis def. Housing, 5-1 … 6-6
WF – Adi Nott def. Jessica Florendo, 5-2 … 7-6
WE – Hurley def. Niklinska, 5-3 … 8-6
WS – Serrette def. Vu, 5-4 … 9-6
WF – Wang def. Prot, 5-3 … 9-7
WS – Providenza def. Annunziato, 5-2 … 10-7 (Northwestern wins sabre, 5-4)
WE – Christa French def. Montoya, 5-2 … 10-8
WE – Kayley French def. Orlando, 5-3 … 10-9
WF – Nemecek def. Nott, 4-2 … 10-10
WE – Montoya def. Niklinska, 4-3 … 11-10
WE – Kayley French def. Hurley, 5-4 … 11-11
WF – Florendo def. Bautista, 5-1 … 11-12
WE – Orlando def. Christa French, 4-3 … 12-12 (ND wins epee, 6-3)
WF – Nott def. Wang, 5-1 … 13-12
WF – Florendo def. Prot, 5-3 … 13-13
WF – Nemecek def. Bautista, 5-2 … 14-13 (NW wins foil, 6-3)

ND-Penn State Women’s Recap Notes – PSU’s narrow edge in epee (5-4) provided the one-win margin, as ND’s 6-3 mark in sabre was countered by PSU’s 6-3 foil advantage … Hurley won all three of her bouts in her first taste of the ND-PSU rivalry … the Irish had a noteworthy win in the first bout, as Serrette topped NCAA veteran Laura Hillstrom (5-1) … Providenza later beat longtime rival Sophie Hiss in a 5-4 bout (3-1 ND lead) and senior walk-on Erin Housing’s upset Hillstrom, 5-4 (4-2 ND lead) … Hiss edged Serrette (5-4) but Nott scored a key win over NCAA veteran Tam Najm, 5-2 (5-3 ND lead) … Housing later nearly pulled off another upset, losing 4-5 to Hiss (leaving ND’s cushion at 7-4) … Providenza’s 5-4 win over Hillstrom was part of three straight ND wins, yielding what appeared to be a commanding 10-4 lead … PSU responded with five straight wins, most notably a 5-1 win by newcomer Keri Byerts over Orlando … the Irish then came back to post three wins for a 13-9 lead, as Bautista topped Najm (4-3), Hurley beat Byerts (5-2) and Nott defeated Allison Glasser (5-2) … ND had five chances to win the clinching bout, but Anastasia Ferdman beat Orlando (5-0), Anne Jackson defeated Prot (5-2) and Glasser topped Bautista (5-2) – before Najm’s 5-2 win over Prot forged the 13-13 tie … PSU brought elite newcomer Doris WiIlette off the bench for a classic battle with her USA junior national teammate Nott (Willette won the tight bout, 5-4) … the ND-PSU showdown was missing two top sabre fencers, as ND’s Zagunis is taking her leave of absence for Olympic training while PSU’s Caity Thompson was competing at a World Cup.

#4 Notre Dame women vs. #1 Penn State, bout-by-bout sequence (PSU 14, ND 13)
WS – Ashley Serrette def. Laura Hillstrom, 5-1 … ND leads 1-0
WS – Stephanie Herbert def. Erin Housing, 5-3 … tied 1-1
WE – Kelley Hurley def. Anastasia Ferdman, 5-2 … ND leads 2-1
WS – Valerie Providenza def. Sophie Hiss, 5-4 … ND leads 3-1
WE – Maria Joao def. Amy Orlando, 5-4 … ND leads 3-2
WS – Housing def. Hillstrom, 5-4 … ND leads 4-2
WS – Hiss def. Serrette, 5-2 … ND leads 4-3
WF – Adi Nott def. Tam Najm, 5-2 … ND leads 5-3
WS – Providenza def. Herbert, 5-1 … ND leads 6-3
WE – Kim Montoya def. Katherine Cook, 5-3 … ND leads 7-3
WS – Hiss def. Housing, 5-4 … ND leads 7-4
WE – Hurley def. Reis, 5-3 … ND leads 8-4
WS – Providenza def. Hillstrom, 5-4 … ND leads 9-4
WS – Serrette def. Herbert, 5-3 … ND leads 10-4 (ND wins sabre, 6-3)
WF – Anne Jackson def. Melanie Bautista, 5-2 … ND leads 10-5
WE – Ferdman def. Montoya, 4-3 (OT) … ND leads 10-6
WF – Allison Glaser def. Emilie Prot, 5-1 … ND leads 10-7
WE – Keri Byerts def. Orlando, 5-1 … ND leads 10-8
WE – Reis def. Montoya, 3-2 (OT) … ND leads 10-9
WF – Bautista def. Najm, 4-3 … ND leads 11-9
WE – Hurley def. Byerts, 5-2 … ND leads 12-9
WF – Nott def. Glasser, 5-3 … ND leads 13-9
WE – Ferdman def. Orlando, 5-0 … ND leads 13-10 … (PSU wins epee, 5-4)
WF – Jackson def. Prot, 5-2 … ND leads 13-11
WF – Glasser def. Bautista, 5-2 … ND leads 13-12
WF – Najm def. Prot 5-2 … tied 13-13
WF – Doris Willette def. Nott 5-4 … Northwestern wins 14-13 (PSU wins foil, 6-3)

ND-Penn State Men’s Recap Notes – PSU’s 16-11 win included a 6-3 edge in epee, 5-4 in foil and 5-4 in sabre … Kostka’s 2-1 record vs. PSU featured 5-4 wins over All-American Arthur Urman and NCAA veteran James Moody … junior Greg Howard also beat Howard (5-1) but dropped a 5-2 bout to Moody … senior Aaron Adjemian lost one-touch bouts to the PSU pair (3-4 vs. Urman, 4-5 vs. Moody) … the men’s foil strip featured three top fencers on each side, with ND sophomore Mark Kubik posting a 5-3 win over newcomer Nicholas Chinman and a 5-4 victory over NCAA veteran Alexander Louton (Kubik lost to All-American Jeffrey Chang, 2-4) … ND junior Jakub Jedrkowiak edged Chinman (5-4) but lost to Louton (4-5) and Chang (1-5) … Bontempo lost all three of his bouts vs. the PSU foilists (3-5 vs. Louton, 2-5 vs. Chinman, 2-4 vs. Chang) … Ghattas met his one of his old adversaries, Franz Boghicev (losing 1-5) but did not face his Oregon Fencing Alliance teammate Ian Farr (who lost to ND sophomore Bill Thanhouser, 2-5, and dropped a 4-5 bout to ND senior Matt Stearns) … Boghicev scored wins over Stearns (5-4) and Thanhouser (5-0).

Other Bouts Of Note – Nott and Prot both posted 5-1 wins over Temple’s Nina Gernes, who placed 18th at the 2006 NCAAs (Gernes beat ND junior Rachel Cota, 5-1) … Montoya also posted a win over an NCAA veteran from Temple, edging Brianna Ferrera in a 5-4 bout.

MEN’S RECORD BOOK UPDATE – A handful of Irish seniors closed out their four years at Notre Dame by finishing in the top-40 in career wins … Bontempo (160-69/.699) is tops among active fencers – his career mark is good enough for 11th place (2nd among men’s foilists) – with Ghattas (158-19/.893) two spots behind in 13th (5th among sabreists) … Ghattas’ career win percentage also is 13th-best among all weapons and 9th among sabreists … fellow sabreist Stearns (145-44/.767) closed out his career at 24th on the all-time wins chart with epeeist Adjemian (129-53) checking in at 35th … foilist Jedrkowiak (128-35/.785) and epeeist Greg Howard (127-34/.789) ended their third year in 39th and 40th, respectively … Thanhouser (51-12/.810) registered the 10th-most wins in a season for ND men’s sabreists.

WOMEN’S RECORD BOOK UPDATE – With her 191-30 career record, Providenza wrapped up her regular- season career with the 10th-most wins all-time for a Notre Dame women’s fencer (1st among women’s sabreists) … Providenza’s career win percentage of .864 checks in at 15th among all weapons and 2nd among sabreists (behind teammate Mariel Zagunis’ mark of .962) … fellow senior Orlando (172-59/.745) finished with the 13th-most wins among all ND women’s weapons (5th among epeeists) … Serrette (61-22/.735 in 2007) bested her single-season win mark from 2006 and now owns the top two single-season win totals for a women’s sabreist … Providenza’s 51 wins this season rank 4th on the same list while her season percentage of .879 (51-7) is good for 5th among sabreists … Hurley (51-4/.927) owns the 3rd-best single-season win percentage among women’s epeeists, with teammate Eleanor Leighton (34-6/.850) seven spots behind, in 10th … Nott (101-12/.894) now has the 10th-best career win percentage among all ND women’s weapons (8th among foilists).