Jan. 29, 2008

STATE COLLEGE, PA. - The North Carolina men's fencing team had a strong showing in both the Penn State and the Johns Hopkins dual meets. The Tar Heels went 2-1 in State College, Pa., on Saturday and 5-0 in Baltimore, Md., on Sunday.

At Penn State North Carolina lost to Johns Hopkins 11-16 but bounced back to defeat Haverford 17-10 and Drew 21-6.

The Tar Heels were led by solid performances from senior sabre fencer Will Randolph, junior sabre fencer Bobby Ziechmann and senior foil fencer Jamie Lawrence. Joe Pipkin, a senior foil fencer, had dealt with some eligibility issues in the fall but returned to competition Saturday. He recently switched from sabre to foil. He went 7-2 at Penn State.

"It feels good to be back," Pipkin said. "It's a little strange to be wearing a foil lamé, but I'm back in blue and that's all that matters."

Head Coach Ron Miller saw improvement but still noted some important challenges. "The men's team continued to have some inconsistency, especially against Johns Hopkins," Miller said. "The first round really killed them. Sabre and foil both fenced well on the day and picked up some important bouts when epee was struggling a bit. The men's squads won the meets they should have won. Overall though, we did show some improvement."

Assistant Coach Josh Webb hopes the team will use its experience from Saturday to rebound in the next meet.

"Hopefully next weekend we will increase our focus and reverse the decision against Johns Hopkins," Webb said.

On Sunday, at the Johns Hopkins duals, the Tar Heels went 5-0. They defeated Stevens Institute of Technology 16-11, Yeshiva 26-1, Hunter 25-2, New Jersey Institute of Technology 26-1 and William & Mary 21-6.

North Carolina was led by strong performances from senior epee fencer Benton Heimsath, freshman epee fencer Jarrett Rodrigues, freshman sabre fencer Kevin Ziechmann, junior foil fencer Nate Seaman and junior foil fencer Alex Grigorenko. Junior sabre fencer Bobby Ziechmann carried his solid performance from the Penn State Duals to Sunday and now boasts an 82.1 winning percentage.

The freshmen fencers also had an influential role in the competition.

"It was especially pleasing to see our younger fencers step up and win some big bouts," Coach Miller said. "David Winer was a great example of that, finishing the day at 7-1. He came in and really was able to win in a variety of situations."

Benton Heimsath was pleased with the team's performance.

"I think we fenced very well," he said. "We got a bit of a slow start, but we came together as a team. We just took it one game at a time, and we really stepped up to the plate. We won some important bouts when it really mattered. Some of our young fencers really stepped up and set the tone for the day. Some of our veterans came in and really mopped up."

Next up for the Tar Heels are the Northwestern Dual Meets in Evanston, Ill. on Saturday and Sunday. The team is prepared for its next opponents.

"Right now we're excited, and we're looking ahead," Heimsath said. "We're just planning on taking things one bout at a time."