MADISON, NJ (February 28, 2026) -- The Tufts University women's fencing team finished a very strong third Saturday afternoon at the NIWFA Championships, while
Emily Xu and
Karen Bei were named as the top sabre and epee individual fencers to highlight the day's action.
As a team, Tufts finished just two points shy of second place overall, while the foil squad and epee teams were each second overall behind only Division I Temple University. The sabre team finished third, behind just Johns Hopkins and Temple, and Bei was also named to the NIWFA All-Academic Team.
The foil group of
Sophie Guan,
Katie Han,
Saanvi Kapoor and
Layla Roy finished with 33 wins in pool play, posting a +110 touch ratio for the day. Han led the way for the Jumbos with an 8-2 record on Saturday, posting a +30 touch ratio, while Guan was a very stellar 12-1 with a +38 ratio on the day. Laya Roy was in the C spot, and dominated as she was 12-1 with a 61-20 ratio on the strip.
In team epee fencing, Bei, first-year
Olivia Judicke and
Emily You were the runners-up as they won 32 bouts for a very strong +82 touch ratio on the day. That was highest of any of the 14 teams Saturday in epee. Bei finished 11-1 in team fencing for a +38 ratio in the A spot, while
Emily You was the top B fencer with a 12-1 mark while posting a 55-23 touch ratio. Judicke was 8-5, as she added 51 touches for a +9 clip.
In the sabre portion of team fencing,
Anahat Bawa,
Asher Boynton and
Emily Xu were strong but couldn't catch great days from JHU and Temple. The group was a strong 32-7 on the day, winning 82 percent of their bouts while posting 183 touches to only 87 against.
Boynton fenced at the A spot and was 10-3 with a strong 60-38 ratio on the day, while
Emily Xu was 11-2 with 61 touches to just 23 against. Bawa was 11-2 on for the day at the C spot, chalking up 62 total touches.
In the individual portion of the Championships, Bei finished as the title holder in epee through a 16-person bracket. She topped Isabella Anderson of Drew University 15-10 before outlasting No. 9 seed Anne-Mai Melles of Temple to get to the semifinals.
On the other side, You would earn a 14-10 win over Isabel You of Fairleigh Dickinson University, followed by an 11-7 win over No. 5 seed Lindsey Minor of Temple. Bei and You would fence in the semis, with Bei defeating her teammate 15-11. In the finals, Bei bested Nicole Yu of Hopkins 10-9 in a thriller to earn the victory.
Xu would earn the victory in sabre with another stellar performance, defeating Alexandra Craine of Stevens 15-7 in the Round of 16. In the second round, Xu bested teammate
Anahat Bawa 15-1 to move into the semifinals. Bawa had taken down Alexandra Papapetropoulou 15-0 in the first round.
On the bottom of the bracket, Boynton was the No. 2 seed and topped Kaydine Gonzalez 15-8 in the opening round. In the next round, Keely Carter of Temple knocked off Boynton 15-11.
Xu earned a spot in the finals with a 15-10 win over Reese Birnstill of Temple, taking on Carter in the finals. Xu would have no problems, rolling to a 15-6 win to earn the top medalist honor.
In foil, three fencers were in the draw as Guan was the No. 4 seed, while Han was No. 7 and Roy was the No. 9 seed. Roy earned a 15-8 win in the first round before falling in the second round to top-seed Sara Szeverenyi of FDU, 15-9.
Guan earned a 15-5 win in the first round over Julia DiPaolo of Stevens, but was knocked out of the draw in the second round with a 15-3 loss to Natalie Adams-Kim of Temple.
Han knocked off Isabella Hatzoglu of Drew University 10-8 in the opening draw, and followed that up with a 15-11 win over Rosy Cepero of Johns Hopkins to move into the semifinals. The ride would end there for Han, falling to Stella Frias of NJIT 15-6 to finish tied for third.
The Jumbos will now regroup and focus on next weekend's NCAA Regional Championships at Vassar College's Walker Field House in Poughkeepsie, NY Sunday, March 8 at 8 a.m.
--JUMBOS--
