CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Brandeis University fencing teams participated in the annual Beanpot tournament at Boston College on Wednesday evening. The women picked up their first win of the season with a 14-13 victory over MIT, while falling to Harvard, 21-6, and BC, 19-8. The men were edged in two of their matches, falling to BC and MIT by 15-12 scores. They also lost to Harvard, 20-7.

HOW IT HAPPENED - WOMEN

• The women's win was decided by the final three bouts in foil. After MIT took the epee competition, 6-3, Brandeis won saber, 5-4.
• With MIT leading the overall match, 13-11, the Judges and Engineers were tied at 3-all headed into the last three foil matchups.
• Sophomore Livvy Oliveira (Swampscott, Mass./Swampscott) started the comeback with a 5-4 win. Senior Alex McKee (Nyack, N.Y./Nyack) took a 5-2 victory to tie the match, and junior Hannah Du (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) went down to the last touch before clinching, 5-4.
• The saber squad was the most successful on the night for the women, earning 11 of the team's 28 wins across the three matches. Junior Kat Xikes (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) earned a team-high five wins, matched by sophomore Vera Witte's (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) five in epee.

HOW IT HAPPENED - MEN

• On the men's side, the saber squad suffered only their second loss of the season, 5-4, to MIT, but the Judges bounced back with a 5-4 win over Harvard and a 6-3 defeat of BC. The saber loss by Harvard was one of only two squad defeats for the Crimson men on the evening.
• The Judges' only other squad victory on the night came from epee, who defeated MIT, 7-2.
• Senior saber Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas/Abeka Home School Academy) was the winningest Judge of the evening on either side, going 2-1 against all three opponents for a 6-3 record.
• Junior saber Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md./Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) went 5-1 in his two matches against Harvard and BC for the team's top winning percentage on the night.
• Senior epee fencer Mark Shamis (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) joined Witte, Xikes and Escueta with wins against all three opponents, going 5-4 on the evening, including 3-0 against MIT.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: Men, 2-7. Women, 1-9.
• BC: Men, 2-1. Women, 2-1.
• MIT: Men, 0-3. Women, 0-3.
• Harvard: Men, 4-2. Women, 4-2.

UP NEXT

• The Judges will head to Providence, Rhode Island, for the annual Northeast Fencing Conference meet on November 23-24.