WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's and women's fencing teams opened their 2023-24 campaigns with a pair of meets in two different time zones. The Judges had a series of dual meets at the Western Invitational at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, while part of the team represented Brandeis at the NEIFC Fall Tournament, known as The Big One, at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
WESTERN INVITATIONAL
- At the Western Invitational, the Brandeis men posted a 3-5 record, while the women went 1-8.
- The men defeated Incarnate Word, 16-11; Stanford, 15-12; and North Carolina, 19-8, and dropped a 13-14 decision to UC San Diego, ranked #10 in the United States Fencing Coaches Association preseason poll. Three of their other four losses came to teams in the top 4 in the poll, Notre Dame, Columbia and Ohio State.
- The women's win came against UIW, 15-12. Six of their nine opponents were ranked among the top 15 in the preseason by the United States Fencing Coaches Association.
- The men's sabre squad turned in the top squad performance of the weekend, going 6-2. In addition to picking up wins in Brandeis's three team victories, they also defeated host Air Force, 7-2; Notre Dame, 6-3; and UC San Diego, 6-3. Their only two losses were 4-5 against Columbia and 3-6 against Ohio State.
- The men's foil squad posted a .500 record, with wins over Stanford, UNC, UCSD and UIW, plus 4-5 losses against Notre Dame and Columbia.
- Men's epee and women's sabre each had two squad victories.
- Individually, Brandeis saw five fencers reach double digits in victories.
- Leading the way was graduate student Maggie Shealy (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill), who went 16-3 in seven matches. Shealy was 3-0 against Air Force, Notre Dame, Stanford and Ohio State and 2-1 against Northwestern.
- The men's sabre squad saw its two NCAA qualifiers each reach 14 wins, with junior Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas/Abeka Home School Academy) going 14-4 and sophomore Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md./Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) going 14-3. BenAvram was 3-0 against Notre Dame and North Carolina and 2-0 against Air Force, Stanford and UCSD. Escueta had three wins over Air Force and UNC and two each against Notre Dame, UCSD and Columbia.
- Men's foil fencer Jack Sullivan (Somerville, Mass./Greater Commonwealth Virtual School) had the top performance among any newcomer, going 13-6. He posted 3-0 records against Stanford and UCSD and went 2-1 versus Notre Dame and Ohio State.
- Junior Mark Shamis (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) topped the men's epee squad with 12 wins. He had at least one victory against all eight opponents, including a 2-1 record against Stanford, UNC, Incarnate Word and Columbia.
- Two newcomers led the women's foil and epee squads, as Vera Merrill Witte (Ridgewood, N.J/Ridgewood) notched nine epee wins and Livvy Oliveira (Swampscott, Mass./Swampscott) had eight in foil.
THE BIG ONE
- The Judges were represented in three weapons at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Fall Tournament, a/k/a The Big One.
- In men's sabre action, Brandeis saw two fencers reach the direct elimination quarterfinals. Sophomore Seth Edelman (New York, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) and junior Joy Qiu (Guangzhou City, China/Roselle Catholic (N.J.) tied for seventh place, as they both went 5-0 in pool play to earn joint-ninth seeds. First-year Alex Piwowar (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) also went 5-0 and was joint sixth in the seeding. Qiu won his first two rounds, 15-2 and 15-9 before meeting Piwowar, who won 15-0 and 15-5, in the round of 16. Qiu prevailed over his teammate, 15-13.
- On the other half of the bracket, Edelman won 15-3, 15-5 and 15-12 in his first three matches. He lost, 15-11, to an opponent from MIT in the quarters, while Qiu lost to the eventual champion from Sacred Heart, 15-8.
- In men's foil action, first-year Jake Anderson (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco Waldorf) was the top finisher, making it to the Round of 16 and placing ninth. He went 6-0 in pools and was seeded joint sixth in the direct elimination. Anderson won his first two matches, 15-3 and 15-4, but was edged in his third match, 15-14.
- The lone representative of the women's squad was a local fencer, first-year Ryan Weinsier (Northampton, Mass./Northampton), who finished in 24th place in the epee competition. Weinsier went 3-2 in pool play and won her first DE match, 15-6.
UP NEXT
- The Judges will host their local rivals Harvard, MIT and Boston College on November 15 in the annual Beanpot Tournament at 6:30 p.m.
