March 4, 2007

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A first-place finish in the women’s epee competition highlighted Notre Dame’s overall second-place finish in the team portion of the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships, held Sunday in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse. Ohio State topped all of the team standings, with the Irish men’s squad finishing second and the women’s side tying for the runner-up spot with Northwestern.

A fleche by senior women’s epeeist Amy Orlando provided the winning touch for her Notre Dame squad, as the Irish topped Ohio State (5-3) in the final. The women’s epeeists – who compiled the top bout win percentage (194-57/.773) among the six Notre Dame weapons during the regular season – provided the Irish with their only first-place showing on what proved to be a tough day for Notre Dame against Ohio State, which defeated the Irish in each of the other five weapons.

Freshman Kelley Hurley, sophomore Kim Montoya and senior Eleanor Leighton combined with Orlando in comprising Notre Dame’s primary members of the victorious women’s epee squad.

The men’s foil and sabre squads reached their respective finals, with both losing hard-fought battles to Ohio State (4-5 in foil, 2-5 in sabre).

Notre Dame finished third in the remaining three weapons – men’s epee and women’s foil and sabre – after losing in the semifinals to the Buckeyes.

Here are additional notes on each weapon, followed by the final standings for Sunday’s team portion of the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships:

MEN’S EPEE – In the semifinal against Ohio State, Notre Dame won three bouts in a row (Karol Kostka over Sean Harder, 5-1, and Christian Rivera, 5-4; Aaron Adjemian over Jason Pryor, 5-1) to take a 3-1 lead, but the Buckeyes answered back with four straight to clinch the 5-3 victory … the loss was the first vs. Ohio State for the men’s epee team in the 2006-07 season, as they recently topped the Buckeyes in consecutive weeks at the Notre Dame Duals (5-4) and the NYU Duals (6-3) … the Irish defeated Cleveland State (5-2) in the 3rd-place bout, with earlier wins over Wisconsin and Northwestern in the first round and quarterfinals, respectively.

MEN’S FOIL – The ND-OSU final proved to be one of the most exciting and emotional matchups of the day … sophomore Mark Kubik landed a parry-riposte to defeat Will Jeter (5-2) in the opening bout before 2006 NCAA runner-up Andras Horanyi answered back for Ohio State with a 5-0 win over senior Frank Bontempo … junior Jakub Jedrkowiak ducked low to score the deciding touch on OSU’s Dimitri-Kirk Gordon (5-1) but Horanyi beat Kubik (5-1) to knot the score at 2-2 … Jedrkowiak (5-2 over Jeter) and Bontempo (5-3 over Kirk-Gordon) added victories to give the Irish a 4-2 lead, but OSU won the final three bouts with Horanyi defeating Jedrkowiak, Joe Streb (substituting for Kirk-Gordon) besting Kubik and Jeter downing Bontempo in the final bout … ND reached the final after dispatching Wayne State (5-0), Michigan State (5-1) and Cleveland State (5-1) in the previous rounds … Jedrkowiak (5-1) and Kubik (5-3) recorded semifinal victories over former NCAA participant Mike Merker of CSU, with Jedrkowiak also tallying a victory over newcomer Liran Gross (5-1).

MEN’S SABRE – The Irish breezed past Minnesota (5-1), Indiana (5-1) and Chicago (5-0) to reach the final against OSU, with the Irish championship bid then hindered by the absence of ND standout and three-time All-American Patrick Ghattas (who was competing in Bulgaria at a World Cup) … the Buckeyes opened the scoring as freshman Sergey Smirnov edged two-time All-American Matt Stearns … sophomore Bill Thanhouser responded for the Irish by jumping out to a 3-0 lead over Jason Paul in his 5-3 victory over the former All-American … Mike Momstelidze topped Ryan Bradley (5-3) but Stearns knotted the score (2-2) by landing the final three touches against Paul … OSU won the ensuing three bouts, with a 5-3 triumph by Dexter Wilde (substituting for Paul) over Bradley in the decisive bout.

WOMEN’S EPEE – The victory over Ohio State in the final gave the women’s epee squad a perfect record in the 2006-07 season against the Buckeyes, as they previously topped their Midwest rivals at the ND Duals (7-2) and the NYU Duals (6-3) … Montoya posted the first victory by defeating OSU’s Leslie Lampman (3-2), with Hurley – one day after winning the women’s epee MFC individual title – then giving ND a 2-0 lead by downing Elyse Gurnowski (5-2) … the Buckeyes reeled off the next three wins to take the lead, with a 5-3 Lampman triumph over Hurley sandwiching two victories by Alexandra Obrazcova (5-3 over Orlando, 5-4 over Montoya) … Orlando then used a fleche to post a 5-4 victory over Gurnowski and an off-balance Hurley notched the fifth touch to defeat Obrazcova (reprising Hurley’s 15-11 victory in the previous day’s individual final) … Orlando provided the clinching victory by scoring on three consecutive fleches for a 5-3 victory over Lampman … ND’s narrow 5-4 victory over Wayne State in the semifinals was a reversal of their previous meeting at the ND Duals (won by WSU, 5-4) … Hurley recorded victories over two-time NCAA champion Anna Garina (5-4) and ’06 first team All-American Justyna Konczalska (5-2) while the Irish trio swept Alice Schneider (Orlando 3-2, Hurley 5-1, Montoya 5-2) to complete the five necessary victories … ND had reached the semifinal after wins over Minnesota (5-1) and Michigan State (5-3).

WOMEN’S FOIL – The semifinal matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame proved to be the “rubber match” between the two squads, as OSU earlier had topped the Irish (5-4) at the ND Duals before Notre Dame answered back (6-3) at the NYU Duals … sophomores Adi Nott (a 2006 All-American) and Emilie Prot each went 2-1 for Notre Dame, with each notching 5-1 victories over Courtney Streithorst while splitting against Julia Tikhonova and Holly McKibben (Nott over Tikhonova 5-2, Prot over McKibben 5-1) … ND defeated Michigan State 5-1 in the 3rd-place match (5-1), with earlier wins over Oberlin (5-0) and Wayne State (5-2) rounding out their results in the first two rounds of action.

WOMEN’S SABRE – The Irish blanked Wisconsin and Indiana but were narrowly defeated (4-5) by Ohio State in the semifinals … senior Valerie Providenza went 2-1 against the Buckeyes, posting victories over Eileen Grench (5-3) and Syvenna Siebert (5-2) but losing to two-time All-American Siobhan Byrne (5-1) … sophomore Ashley Serrette matched Providenza with wins over Grench (5-3) and Siebert (5-1) accompanying a 5-1 loss to Byrne … Serrette’s victory over Grench knotted the team score at 4-4 but Siebert edged senior walk-on Erin Housing – who earlier in the year had provided a key win for the Irish at the ND Duals by defeating Siebert – to ensure OSU’s passage into the final … ND placed third by defeating Wayne State (5-2), with Providenza collecting a notable victory over 2006 All-American Katarzyna Kuzniak (5-2).

FINAL STANDINGS – Here are the final standings for Sunday’s team portion of the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships:

Overall Team – 1. Ohio State 1,320; 2. Notre Dame 1,245; 3. Northwestern 1,110; 4. Michigan 980; 5. (tie) Cleveland State, Wayne State 950; 7. Michigan State 885; 8. Chicago 825; 9. Indiana 810; 10. Detroit 675; 11. Wisconsin 625; 12. Lawrence 550; 13. Purdue 425; 14. Xavier 420; 15. Case Western Reserve 395; 16. (tie) Illinois, Oberlin 370; 18. Minnesota 260.

Men’s Team Overall – 1. Ohio State 675; 2. Notre Dame 620; 3. Cleveland State 535; 4. (tie) Michigan, Northwestern 485; 6. Indiana 440; 7. Detroit 435; 8. Wayne State 405; 9. (tie) Case Western Reserve, Michigan State 395; 11. Chicago 375; 12. Wisconsin 300; 13. Purdue 295; 14. Illinois 260; 15. Oberlin 185; 16. Lawrence 175; 17. Xavier 135; 18. Minnesota 130.

Women’s Team Overall – 1. Ohio State 645; 2. (tie) Northwestern, Notre Dame 625; 4. Wayne State 545; 5. Michigan 495; 6. Michigan State 490; 7. Chicago 450; 8. Cleveland State 415; 9. Lawrence 375; 10. Indiana 370; 11. Wisconsin 325; 12. Xavier 285; 13. Detroit 240; 14. Oberlin 185; 15. (tie) Minnesota, Purdue 130; 17. Illinois 110.

Men’s Epee – 1. Ohio State; 2. Wayne State; 3. Notre Dame; 4. Cleveland State; 5. Michigan; 6. Indiana; 7. Northwestern; 8. Michigan State; 9. Oberlin; 10. Case Western Reserve; 11. Chicago; 12. Purdue; 13. Detroit; 14. Lawrence; 15. Minnesota; 16. Wisconsin; 17. Xavier; 18. Illinois.

Men’s Foil – 1. Ohio State; 2. Notre Dame; 3. Cleveland State; 4. Michigan; 5. Detroit; 6. Michigan State; 7. Illinois; 8. Wisconsin; 9. Northwestern; 10. Case Western Reserve; 11. Indiana; 12. Lawrence; 13. Purdue; 14. Chicago; 15. Wayne State; 16. Oberlin; 17. Xavier.

Men’s Sabre – 1. Ohio State; 2. Notre Dame; 3. Northwestern; 4. Chicago; 5. Detroit; 6. Indiana; 7. Case Western Reserve; 8. Cleveland State; 9. Wayne State; 10. Michigan; 11. Purdue; 12. Wisconsin; 13. Michigan State; 14. Illinois; 15. Minnesota; 16. Xavier.

Women’s Epee – 1. Notre Dame; 2. Ohio State; 3. Wayne State; 4. Northwestern; 5. Chicago; 6. Lawrence; 7. Michigan State; 8. Michigan; 9. Cleveland State; 10. Wisconsin; 11. Oberlin; 12. Xavier; 13. Detroit; 14. Indiana; 15. Purdue; 16. Minnesota

Women’s Foil – 1. Northwestern; 2. Ohio State; 3. Notre Dame; 4. Michigan State; 5. Michigan; 6. Cleveland State; 7. Wayne State; 8. Chicago; 9. Indiana; 10. Wisconsin; 11. Illinois; 12. Lawrence; 13. Xavier; 14. Oberlin; 15. Purdue.

Women’s Sabre – 1. Ohio State; 2. Northwestern; 3. Notre Dame; 4. Wayne State; 5. Michigan; 6. Indiana; 7. Detroit; 8. Michigan State; 9. Chicago; 10. Cleveland State; 11. Lawrence; 12. Xavier; 13. Wisconsin; 14. Minnesota.