WALTHAM, Mass. – The 2024-25 season for the Brandeis University fencing team opened with a split squad, with most of the team competing at the Western Invitational at Cal-San Diego, and the rest raking part in the Northeast Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Fall Invitational a/k/a The Big One, at Smith College. The Brandeis men went 2-4 at UCSD, while the women were 0-7. The Judges put two fencers in the top 10 at The Big One.

TEAM RESULTS
MEN
Brandeis 16, Stanford 11
UCSD 14, Brandeis 13
Ohio State 18, Brandeis 9
Harvard 16, Brandeis 11
Air Force 16, Brandeis 11
Brandeis 19, Incarnate Word 8

WOMEN
Tufts 15, Brandeis 12
Stanford 18, Brandeis 9
UCSD 24, Brandeis 3
Ohio State 21, Brandeis 6
Air Force 18, Brandeis 9
Northwestern 24, Brandeis 3
Incarnate Word 14, Brandeis 13
 
WESTERN INVITE - TOP MATCHES

• The Brandeis men opened the tournament with a 16-11 win over Stanford, as the saber and epee squads each won, 6-3.
• They closed strong with a 19-8 win over Incarnate Word, as the same two squads won 7-2, while foil picked up its first win, 5-4.
• The Judges also suffered a narrow 14-13 loss to host UCSD, as Brandeis won saber and UCSD won epee by identical 6-3 scores. The Tritons edged Brandeis, 5-4, in foil, to take the win.
• The women started with a narrow 15-12 loss to Tufts, as saber won, 5-4, but epee lost by the same score. The Jumbos took foil, 6-3, to take the overall win.
• In the final match against Incarnate Word, foil earned its first win of the weekend, 6-3, but saber suffered a similar loss, and a 5-4 epee win for the Cardinals made the difference.

WESTERN INVITE SQUAD PERFORMANCES

• The men's saber squad turned in the best performance of the weekend, winning five of their six matches.
• The women's saber squad posted two wins, as did men's epee. Men's foil, women's foil and women's epee had one squad win each.

WESTERN INVITE TOP INDIVIDUALS

• Two-time men's saber All-American Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas/Abeka Home School Academy) led the way with an 13-5 record, including going 3-0 against Harvard and Incarnate Word.
• Junior Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md./Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) went 10-2 on the first day of action before departing California to compete in a World Cup event in his quest to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.
• First-year Hunter Yu (Toronto, Ont./Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute) led the men's epee squad an 9-7 record, picking up wins in all six matches. Classmate Lucas Strauss (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) added eight wins.
• Sophomore Jack Sullivan (Somerville, Mass./Greater Commonwealth Virtual School) had eight wins for the epee squad.
• On the women's side, junior Kat Xikes (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) led the way with nine wins for the saber squad, including 3-0 matches against Tufts and Air Force. Senior Kayla Turnof (Westfield, N.J./Kent Place School) earned eight wins, going 2-1 against Tufts, Stanford and Air Force.
• Sophomore Vera Witte (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) led the epee squad with eight wins, including 3-0 records against Stanford and Incarnate Word.
• Junior Hannah Du (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) had six of the foil squad's wins, earning one victory against six of the team's seven opponents.

THE BIG ONE

• The men's saber squad also supplied Brandeis's top performances at The Big One. Senior Anthony Rabinkov (Centennial, Colo./Cherry Creek) finished in a tie for sixth place, while classmate Joy Qiu (Guangzhou City, China/Roselle Catholic, N.J.) was eighth. \
• Rabinkov went 6-0 in pool play and Qiu was 5-1, earning them the seventh and 11^th seeds into the direct elimination. Rabinkov won his first two pool play matches, 15-14 and 15-12 to reach the quarterfinals, falling 15-10 in the quarters. Qiu had wins of 15-10 and 15-7 in the first two rounds, upsetting the fifth seed in the round of 16, but lost in the quarters, 15-13.
• Also finishing in the top 16 at the meet were junior Sam Choun (Nashville, Tenn./Altamont), who placed 15^th in men's foil; first-year Niara Dagli (Boston, Mass./Boston Latin School), 15^th in women's epee;  and sophomore Ella Richards (Harvard, Mass./Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School) and junior Rhea Menon (Princeton, N.J./West Windsor Plainsboro), 14^th and 16^th in women's foil.