Jan. 13, 2008
By Pete LaFleur (special to und.com)
ACADEMY, Colo. – Dominating diplays from three fencers – foilists Adi Nott and Hayley Reese and epeeist Kelley Hurley – led the Notre Dame women’s fencing team to a 5-0 record at the annual Western Invite while an undermanned Irish men’s team came one bout shy of sweeping its five matches, during the two days of action at the Air Force Academy’s Cadet Gymnasium. The Irish women registered top wins over Stanford (18-9) and the host team (22-5) while the Notre Dame men lost a 14-13 thriller to the Cardinal but bested the Falcons, 19-8. The first national poll is set to be released next week, with squads from Notre Dame, Stanford and Air Force expected to be among the respective top-10s.
(note: check back to und.com later this week for possible photo galleries from this event.)
Nott (Rochester, N.Y.) swept her 15 bouts while allowing only five touches during all of Saturday’s women’s competition. A two-time All-American and third-place finisher at the 2007 NCAAs, Nott posted 12 shutout wins and won twice by 5-1 counts. UC San Diego’s Emily Lipoma was the only fencer to score more than one touch versus Nott, in a 5-3 bout. Nott remains 10th on the Notre Dame career win percentage list for all women’s fencers (.906; 116-12).
Epeeist Kelley Hurley’s 15-0 day pushed her career record with the Irish to 66-4 in regular-season bouts.
|
 |
Hurley – whose 66-4 career mark with the Irish (.943) represents the fourth-best win pct. in ND women’s fencing history – also won all 15 of her bouts, by a 75-15 margin. Five of the sophomore’s wins came by 5-0 scores, plus six at 5-1 and three at 5-2. Stanford’s Katherine Lynch (5-3) was the only opponent to manage more than two points versus the San Antonio native, who is well on pace to best Magda Krol’s ND record (.888) for career win pct. by a women’s epeeist.
Reese (Crestwood, Ky.) also rolled to a 15-0 record and allowed only 19 touches, with five shutouts wins, two 5-1 and seven by 5-2 margins. Like Nott and Hurley, the freshman Reese had only one bout in which her opponent reached three points (a 5-3 win over Stanford veteran Jessica Wacker).
The Irish women were fencing minus two of their top fencers, as freshman epeeist Ewa Nelip was busy winning a tournament in her native Poland (capped by an impressive final win over a former world champion) while junior foilist Emilie Prot (a native of France) also did not compete at Air Force. Reese’s impressive debut more than made up for the absence of Prot while junior Kim Montoya (13-2) helped compensate for the temporary loss of Nelip.
The strongest all-around day came from Notre Dame’s women’s sabre group, as three fencers combined for a 41-4 record (the epeeists were 37-5 and the foilists 31-14). All but one of the sabre losses came to Stanford All-American Eva Jellison, who topped junior Ashley Serrette (5-2) and had 5-1 wins over freshmen Sarah Borrmann and Eileen Hassett (both natives of Beaverton, Ore.). Those were the only losses for the Oregon Fencing Alliance club teammates Borrmann and Hassett while Serrette (Orange, N.J.) went 13-2.
Nott’s most noteworthy win came versus Stanford’s Wacker (5-0), a 2007 NCAA entrant who edged Irish senior Rachel Cota (Altadena, Calif.) in a 5-4 bout. Hurley – the 2007 NCAA runner-up – defeated three fencers with NCAA Tournament experience: Stanford’s Brittany Leader (5-0) and the Air Force duo of Eliza Enyart (5-2) and Chelsea Ambort (5-2). Leader also lost to Montoya (2-5) but beat sophomore Vanessa Rosa (5-1). Enyart dropped an overtime battle with Montoya (2-3) but beat Rosa (5-3), while Ambort posted 5-1 wins over Montoya (Las Vegas) and Rosa (El Paso, Texas).
The Notre Dame women’s other victories came versus Cal State Fullerton (27-0), Florida (a club program; 20-7) and UCSD (21-6).
In Sunday’s men’s competition, Notre Dame and Stanford both went 4-1, as the Cardinal lost to Air Force following their 14-13 win over the Irish. The ND men also had wins over Fullerton (24-3), Florida (22-5) and UCSD (18-9).
The Notre Dame men were coping with the absence of three top fencers, as freshman sabreists Avery Zuck and Barron Nydam were competing at the Junior World Cup in Goppogen, Germany, while senior foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak (a three-time All-American) still was returning from the holiday break from his native Poland.
Sabre All-American Bill Thanhouser’s 13-2 record paced the Irish men at Air Force.
|
|
Junior sabre All-American Bill Thanhouser (Portland, Ore.) led the way for the Irish men with a 13-2 record while three others added double-digit win totals: junior foilist Mark Kubik (10-1), freshman foilist Teddy Hodges (10-1) and junior epee All-American Karol Kostka (10-2).
Despite the absence of Jedrkowiak, the Irish foil squad used a four-man rotation of Hodges (Salina, Kan.), freshman Zach Schirtz (8-3), Kubik and his younger brother Steve Kubik (9-3) to combine for a 37-8 record that tied the women’s epeeists for second-best among the six ND weapons. The men’s spee squad – led by Kostka and senior All-American Greg Howard (9-1) – also had a strong showing (35-10) while the men’s sabre group (24-21) had a more challenging day due to the absence of Nydam and Zuck.
The Notre Dame men dominated Stanford in the foil bouts (7-2) and owned a narrow edge in epee (5-4), but the Cardinal stole the win by virtue of going 8-1 in sabre. Both Kubik brothers (products of the San Antonio fencing comunity) registered 5-1 wins over Stanford’s Richard Fulton and each added wins over the Cardinal’s other NCAA veteran, Phill Arredondo (5-0 for Mark, 5-4 by Steve). Fulton was able to score a win over Schirtz (5-3) and Arredondo came back from a 4-2 deficit to edge Schirtz (Rochester, N.Y.), in the clinching bout.
The Irish epeeists had the chance to pick up a key win or two versus Stanford’s Clayon Kenney (another NCAA veteran), but Howard and freshman Greg Schoolcraft each dropped 5-4 bouts while Kenney also beat Poland native Kostka (5-1). Another Stanford fencer with NCAA Tournament experience, sabreist Teddy Levitt, simialrly swept his Irish opponents (5-3 vs. Thanhouser, 5-4 vs. senior Tom Thornton and 5-2 vs. freshman Alex Buell).
Notre Dame’s key victory over the Air Force men included seven wins in both foil and sabre, plus five in epee. Falcons newcomer Peter Stockdale (the brother of former AFA standout Jason Stockdale) split 5-4 bouts versus the Kubik brothers (loss to Mark, win over Steve) and added a 5-0 victory over Hodges. Howard (Granger, Ind.) and Kostka chipped in 5-3 wins over NCAA veteran Peter French, who edged Schoolcraft (San Jose, Calif.) in a 5-4 bout. The Irish nearly swept another Falcons fencer with NCAA Tournament experience, as Thanhouser (5-2) and Horton (5-4; Franksville, Wis.) posted wins over Michael O’Connor while Buell (Waterford, Wis.) was edged in a 5-4 bout.
The Notre Dame men faced four other fencers who have competed in previous NCAA Tournaments, most notably UCSD All-America foilist Cameron Sprowles. Mark Kubik (5-3) and Hodges (5-4/OT) turned in wins over Sprowles while Schritz dropped a 5-3 decision. John Chung – another UCSD foilist with NCAA experience – managed a 5-4 win over Steve Kubik but lost to Schirtz (0-5) and Hodges (1-5).
Howard (5-1) and Kostka (4-0) turned in wins over Fullerton’s Jacob Jennings, a 2007 NCAA entrant who posted a win on Sunday over Schirtz (5-2). His CSF teammate Jason Runyan, another NCAA veteran, beat Horton (5-3) but lost to Thanhouser (2-5) and Buell (4-5) in the sabre competition.
RECORD BOOK UPDATE – Three different Irish fencers regsitered their 100th career win with the Irish (in regular-season bouts) … Thanhouser (105-24) became the 67th all-time ND men’s fencer and 22nd sabreist to crack the century mark, following his win over Air Force’s Brent Watson … Kostka’s win over UCSD’s Nick McGuinness then made him the 16th ND men’s epeeist ever to reach 100 wins (101-31) … Cota (102-39; 7-8 at the Western Invite) similarily reached the milestone, after her win over Florida’s Allison Shaw … Mark Kubik (92-39), Montoya (92-33) and Prot (96-28) remain on the verge of the century club … Serrette (130-50) passed Danielle Davis into fourth on the ND list for career women’s sabre wins (one win shy of tying for third) …she is 20 wins away from becoming the 25th ND women’s fencer ever to reach 150 career victorise … Howard (136-35) jumped from 40th to 31st on the ND men’s fencing career wins chart and also cracked the top-10 list for men’s epee wins (8th; 17 behind Gregorz Wozniak).