Dec. 17, 2006

New York, New York -

The UNC men's and women's fencing teams fenced in their first dual meet of the 06-07 season at New York University December 2. They were joined by host team, New York University, Rutgers University, Penn State, Princeton University and Harvard University. The men's and women's team went for a combined record of 4-6. The women finished with a record of 3-2 and the men went 1-4. The most productive UNC individual performances came by way of sabre fencer Jennifer Sawicki who fenced for nine wins and four loses, while sabre fencer Bobby Ziechmann won ten bouts and lost five.

Reflecting on the season thus far, UNC assistant fencing coach Josh Webb states, "in our first two collegiate opens (Temple Open and Penn State Open) the team in many ways meet and exceeded our expectations. At Temple all of the potential starters won almost 80% of their bouts on the day and made it into the top 16 of the tournament. The Penn State Open, which is a more challenging tournament may have been a wake up call to some of fencers who had so much success at the previous Temple Open. The success rate was not as high, but our focus and determination to find answers to difficult situations held promise for the upcoming set of dual meets."

Coach Webb also notes, "this set of dual meets is always difficult. There is Penn State and Harvard who are perennial top 5 teams. Harvard is the defending national champion and Penn State finished again top 2 or 3 last year. Then Princeton, NYU, and Rutgers are always in the top 10 or 12. We've been excited about the group of women that have returned and have entered this year as freshmen, and they didn't disappoint. They when 3-2 against some of the toughest teams in the country. They are as strong as the men where last year. The men's record from NYU is not indicative of how they fenced. There were many 5-4 losses that could have easily been wins and in a couple of cases could have changed the outcome of the meet. This is always the measuring stick for our season. As of now we are pleased with the progress we've made. There is still a lot of work to do for the rest of the season, but if they stay as focused as they have so far this should be another great year."

OVERALL UNC WOMEN'S TEAM FINISHES

Penn State -21, UNC -6

Harvard -22, UNC -5

UNC -18, NYU -9

UNC -14, Princeton -13

UNC -17, Rutgers -10

UNC WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL SCORES

SABRE

Jennifer Sawicki, W 9, L 4

Patti Sanders, W 7, L 6

Helen Marino, W 0, L 1

Jennifer Clark, W 7, L 6

Monica Kim, W 0, L 2

EPEE

Clarie Brandow, W 6, L 7

Breta Kotkin, W 1, L 4

Rachel Eschenbach, W 3, L 8

Ari Prior Grosch, W 0, L 1

FOIL

May-Lynne Chen-Contino, W 7, L 8

Katie Rebich, W 5, L 9

Meredith Peck, W 1, L 0

Ari Prior-Grosch, W-0, L 1

Marion Boulicault, W-3, L 7

Jessica Wacker, W2, L 3

MEN'S OVERALL TEAM FINISHES

Penn State -23, UNC -4

Harvard -21, UNC -6

NYU -14, UNC -13

Princeton -20, UNC -7

UNC -15, Rutgers -12

UNC MEN'S INDIVIDUAL SCORES

SABRE

Bobby Ziechmann, W-10, L-5

Joe Pipkin, W-1, L-9

Will Randolph, W-3, L-8

John Powell, W-7, L-2

EPEE

Mike Burkhart, W-6, L- 9

Ben Gellis, W- 4, L- 8

Jacob Mader, W -1, L- 8

Jamaal Green, W- 1, L- 7

Sean Skwerer, W- 0, L- 1

FOIL

Nate Seaman, W- 2, L- 13

Jamie Lawrence, W- 6, L-8

Mich Prendergast, W-4, L-11

David Skwerer, W-0, L-1