WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University fencing teams celebrated their Senior Day in style today at the Eric Sollee Invitational in the Gosman Athletic Center as the Judges won eight of their nine matches, highlighted by a 16-11 win for the men against NYU, the #13 team overall and #1 team in Division III in the United States Fencing Coaches Association polls.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis men, 11-13.
- Brandeis women, 7-15.
TODAY'S RESULTS – MEN
- Brandeis 14, NJIT 13
- Brandeis 20, Stevens 7
- Brandeis 16, #13 NYU 11
- Brandeis 19, Stevens 9
- Brandeis 27, Hunter 0
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TODAY'S RESULTS – WOMEN
- Brandeis 23, NJIT 4
- Brandeis 22, Stevens 5
- NYU 15, Brandeis 12
- Brandeis 21, Hunter 6
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JUDGES KNOCK OFF NYU
- In the marquis match of the day for the Brandeis men, the Judges took saber, 7-2, and epee, 5-4, while keeping foil close at 4-5 to earn the 16-11 victory.
- The win was the second for Brandeis over their University Athletic Association rivals under head coach Elif Soyer Sachs, and just their second since the 2014-15 season.
- Senior All-American Lev BenAvram (Bethesda, Md./Charles E. Lewis Jewish Day School) was a key performer, going 3-0 for the saber squad. His was the only 3-0 mark for the Judges in the match.
OTHER KEY MATCHUPS
- The Brandeis men also had a close 14-13 win over NJIT to open the up day. Saber and foil won, 7-2 and 6-3, offsetting an 8-1 epee win for the Highlanders.
- All but one of the rest of the day's matches were won handily by the Judges, with the women's close loss to NYU the only defeat. Brandeis won saber, 5-4, but the Violets took foil by the same score and won epee, 6-3.
SQUAD PERFORMANCES
- Men's saber led the way with a 5-0 mark, losing just five bouts all day. Women's saber were 4-0 at the meet with just seven defeats, posting three 8-1 wins and their 5-4 victory over NYU.
- Men's foil was 4-1, while women's foil and epee were each 3-1 with each suffering their only losses to NYU. Men's epee was 3-2 with wins over NYU, Hunter and Stevens.
TOP INDIVIDUALS
- The saber squads also provided the some of the top individual performances on the afternoon. On the men's side, in addition to BenAvram's key wins over NYU, plus another against Stevens, classmate Seth Edelman (New York, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) went 9-0, including 5-0 across two matches against Stevens and 3-0 against Hunter.
- For the women's saber squad, senior Kat Xikes (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) had the team's best overall record, going 12-0 with a 3-0 record against all four opponents.
- On the women's foil side, junior Livvy Oliveira (Swampscott, Mass./Swampscott) was also unbeaten, going 7-0, with 3-0 records against Stevens and Hunter and a win over NJIT.
- Senior Michael Yerokhin (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) of the men's foil squad matched Edelman with nine wins on the day, going 3-0 against NJIT, 2-1 against NYU and 4-2 against Stevens. Foil first-year David Knizhnik (Bethesda, Md./Aeon) was 7-2, with a 2-1 mark against NJIT and NYU and 3-0 against Stevens.
- Sophomore Bryce Ritterhaus (Andover, Mass./Andover) paced men's epee with a 5-1 mark against Stevens and Hunter, while classmate Lucas Strauss (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) had the most wins on the squad with 7.
- First-year Chloe Chang (Hillsdale, N.J./Pascack, N.J.) paced the women's epee squad by going 7-3, including 3-0 records against Stevens and Hunter, while senior Olivia Bennett (Shrewsbury, Mass./Worcester Academy) had six wins, picking up one against all four opponents.
CLASS OF 2026
- During a break in the meet, the Judges honored their seven seniors;
UP NEXT
- The Judges will travel to North Carolina next weekend for the Duke Invitational.
