Notre Dame Fencing Stats – 2007 Duke Duals, in PDF Format
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Feb. 10, 2007
DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing teams have returned to campus following an undefeated showing at the Duke Duals, with each team posting four victories during the two-day event. Friday’s action saw the 5th-ranked men’s team (18-4) defeat 9th-ranked Air Force (19-8), Johns Hopkins (22-5), Duke (20-7) and North Carolina (18-9). The 4th-ranked Irish women (19-2) then took to the strips on Saturday and posted wins over UNC (22-5), Hopkins (20-7) and the host Blue Devils (20-7). The women also registered a 16-11 victory over Air Force, with five of the nine epee bouts reaching a sudden-death overtime and 10 of the 27 total bouts decided by one touch.
The Duke Duals award six cups to the teams with the most total wins in each weapon. Notre Dame nearly swept all six cups, but Duke’s men’s foilists totaled one more win than the Irish (25-24). Notre Dame’s weapon groups won 22 of their 24 head-to-head matchups during the Duke Duals, with the only losses coming to the Duke men’s foilists and the UNC men’s sabreists (both 4-5).
Senior sabreist Valerie Providenza (12-0) and sophomore foilist Adi Nott (10-0, pushing her season record to 41-4) registered Notre Dame’s only double-digit undefeated marks at the tournament. Providenza – who recently returned from Europe after finishing 16th in a London World Cup – came into the weekend needing just four wins to break former teammate Destanie Milo’s mark for career wins for a women’s sabreist (in regular-season bouts) and she earned the record-breaking 167th victory with a 5-2 win over Duke’s Annie Massart.
The Notre Dame women also received strong efforts from senior epeeists Eleanor Leighton (10-3) and Amy Orlando (8-3), junior foilist Melanie Bautista (7-0), sopohomore foilist Emilie Prot (8-1) and sophomore sabreist Ashley Serrette (10-2).
Sophomore sabreist Bill Thanhouser (10-2) paced the Irish men, with a pair of seniors – sabreist Matt Stearns (9-3) and foilist Frank Bontempo (9-1) – following close behind while junior Jakub Jedrkowiak added a 9-3 record in his foil bouts. The trio of senior Aaron Adjemian (8-3), junior captain Greg Howard (8-2) and sophomore Karol Kostka (8-3) helped lead the men’s epee squad (28-8) to the best mark of the weekend among all six Irish weapons, followed by men’s sabre and women’s foil with 27 wins each, women’s sabre (26-10), and men’s foil and women’s epee with 24 wins each.
Notre Dame’s closest match of the tournament came in the women’s battle with Air Force, which held a 10-9 lead before the Irish rattled off five straight wins. The clinching sequence included Bautista’s 5-0 win over Collette Bannister, Orlando edging Lydia Bigelow (5-4), Prot’s shutout of Julie Luce, a 5-3 win for Nott over Myramn Ruth and sophomore Kim Montoya’s defensive battle with Brynne Thoreson (2-1).
Two of the Irish weapon groups were missing a key fencer, as senior sabreist Patrick Ghattas and freshman epeeist Kelley Hurley are competing at World Cup events (in Budapest and Rome, respectively).
The Notre Dame men faced nine fencers at the Duke Duals who previously have competed in the NCAAs, with the Irish fencers combining for a 16-11 record in those bouts. UNC’s Mike Burkhart fenced to 5-4 bouts versus all three ND epeeists, losing to Kostka while narrowly defeating Howard and Adjemian. The Irish epeeists did manage a sweep of JHU’s Dan Zielinski (5-2 by Kostka, 5-0 for Adjemian and 5-4 by Howard).
The noteworthy men’s foil bouts included Bontempo (5-4) and Jedrkowiak (5-1) both posting wins over JHU’s Nick Marchuk (who beat ND sophomore walk-on Alex Grigorenko, 5-2) while Bontempo (5-2) and Jedrkowiak (5-4) also beat Duke’s Jackson McClam (who beat ND sophomore Mark Kubik, 5-1). Duke’s other top foilist, Ben Hendricks, turned in a sweep of the Irish (5-2 vs. Kubik, 5-1 vs. Bontempo and 5-4 vs. Jedrkowiak).
The Notre Dame men’s sabreists faced four former NCAA participants, most notably Duke All-American Peter Truszkowski (who beat Stearns 5-4 but lost to Thanhouser, 0-5, and suffered a 3-5 defeat at the hands of senior walk-on Ryan Bradley). The Irish also swept Air Force’s C.J. Baran (5-0 by Thanhouser, 5-2 by Stearns, 5-3 by Bradley) and posted a pair of wins over UNC’s Will Randolph (5-4 by Thanhosuer and 5-2 by Stearns, with sophomore walk-on Tom Horton losing 1-5) but were swept by his teammate Robert Ziechmann (who edged Thanhouser and Stearns, 5-4, and beat Horton 5-1).
The Notre Dame women had fewer bouts (15) versus NCAA Tournament veterans but those top foes included former Duke All-America epeeist Anne Kercsmar, who lost to Orlando (3-4) and Leighton (3-5) while beating Montoya (5-2). Nott (5-1) and Prot (5-4) added wins over Duke foilist Marilyn Tycer (who beat ND fifth-year walk-on Colleen Walsh, 5-4) while Providenza posted the only Irish win over sabreist Allison Schafer (5-0), who shut out Serrette and beat senior Erin Housing 5-3.
The tournament’s only other bouts versus NCAA veterans included Air Force All-American Eliza Enyart’s one-touch wins over the ND epeeists (4-3 vs. Orlando, 5-4 vs. Leighton, 2-1 vs. Montoya) and wins by both Leighton (5-4) and Orlando (5-1) over UNC’s Courtney Krolikowski (who beat Montoya, 5-0).
Nott’s impressive sophomore season (41-4) is leading the way for an ND women’s foil squad that has gone 18-3 in head-to-head matchups and owns the season’s top bout win pct. (.788; 149-40) among the six Irish weapons (Bautista is 34-14, Prot 32-10). The women’s epee squad is 19-2 in head-to-head matchups and, at 147-42 (.778), is just two wins off the foilist’s pace – led by the solid quartet of Hurley (39-3), Orlando (32-15), Montoya (33-19) and Leighton (26-3).
Despite having Ghattas fence just 18 bouts this season (17-1), the Notre Dame men’s sabreists carry an 18-4 head-to-head record and have won nearly 75% of their bouts (147-51; .742). Thanhouser (44-10) has joined his classmate Nott in cracking the 40-win mark while Stearns is 29-14 for the season.
The men’s epeeists (18-4 record; 141-57 in bouts/.712) have been strong behind the three-pronged attack of Howard (39-14), Kostka (38-17) and Adjemian (34-16). The men’s foil team (17-5 head-to-head; 133-65 bout record/.672) has struggled with its consistency this season, with the individual records including 38-13 by Jedrkowiak, 31-16 for Bontempo and 30-18 by Kubik. The women’s sabre unit (15-6 head-to-head; 120-69 bouts.635) – which is coping with the absence of All-American Mariel Zagunis – again has been led by Providenza (35-6), with Serrette adding a 43-20 mark.
RECORD BOOK UPDATE – In addition to owning the most women’s sabre wins in ND history, Providenza (175-29/.858) now ranks 11th in career wins for all ND women’s fencers … Orlando (161-52/.756) jumped five spots on that list to 18th (8th among women’s epeeists, six wins behind Magda Krol) … Serrette (100-45/.690) and Walsh (104-36/.743) each earned their 100th career victories during the Duke Duals … Bontempo (150-67/.691) leads current Irish men’s fencers in career wins and now is 19th on the list for career wins among all ND men’s fencers (5th among men’s foilists) … Bontempo needs just nine wins at the final regular-season event (the Northwestern Duals) to pass Forest Walton into second place on the ND list for career men’s foil wins (Jeremy Siek holds the record with 191 career wins) … Stearns (138-42/.767) jumped to 27th place on the ND list for overall men’s fencing wins while Adjemian (124-50/.713) and Jedrkowiak (124-32/.795) now are tied for 41st on that list.