SAN DIEGO, CA (November 3, 2024) – The Tufts University women's fencing team opened its 2024-25 season at the very competitive West Invitational in San Diego on Saturday and Sunday.
The competition, hosted by UC San Diego, saw the Jumbos fence seven Division I teams in their eight matches. All eight Tufts opponents over the weekend finished among the top 25 teams at the NCAA Fencing Championships last March (results are combined men's and women's).
Tufts opened the competition with a 15-12 win over its lone Division III foe Brandeis University. The Judges were 15th at the NCAA Championships last year and are ranked #3 in Division III to start the 2024-25 season. Tufts is at #5 in that poll.
The Jumbos won in foil 6-3 and epee 5-4 over the Judges. Newcomer
Sophie Guan won all three foil matches while
Lea Levi took two of three. In epee, both
Karen Bei and
Olivia Tomasello won two of three against Brandeis. The Jumbos were edged 5-4 in saber, but
Nitika Subramanian won twice.
Northwestern University, the #5-ranked team in the pre-season national poll, topped Tufts 22-5. Bei won two of her three bouts in epee.
Air Force, 12th nationally last year, took a 16-11 win over the Jumbos. Tufts won 5-4 in saber led by three wins from Subramanian. Guan and Levi had two wins each in foil, which Tufts lost narrowly 5-4.
The Jumbos were then defeated by a close 15-12 score against the University of the Incarnate Word. Tufts' 6-3 win in foil included two wins from each of their fencers - Guan, Levi and
Jessica Charalel. Bei in epee and Subramanian and
Anat Katz in saber also had two wins versus UIW.
In the final Jumbo match for Saturday, host UC San Diego took an 18-9 win over the Jumbos. The Tufts saber team was the most competitive in the match for the Jumbos, with Subramanian taking two of the team's four wins in that weapon. Bei also won twice in epee.
Tufts started Sunday's action against Ohio State, sixth at the NCAA meet last year and #10 in the preseason poll. The Buckeyes won 20-7, but Tufts was a close 5-4 score in epee with Tomasello earning two victories.
The Jumbos then went up against Stanford – 11th at NCAA's last year and #14 in this year's poll – falling 20-7. Tufts had a strong epee performance winning 6-3 behind a 3-0 mark for Bei and two Tomasello victories.
Tufts faced UC San Diego again in their final match of the tournament and lost 20-7. Bei's two epee victories were Tufts' top effort, including a five touches to four victory over UCSD's Renee Zuhars who was 15th at the NCAA Championships last season.
Bei's 15-9 record overall (.625 winning percentage) led Tufts for the weekend, while Subramanian also had a winning mark of 11-10 (.524). Levi's eight victories led the Jumbos in foil, a number Tomasello also recorded in epee.
Tufts will continue early-season action at the Vassar Invitational on Sunday.
--JUMBOS--
