M., w. fencing both split against Penn St., North Carolina

Princeton's fencers matched their pointed weapons with a sharp performance in North Carolina this past weekend.

The men's squad turned in a strong performance, losing a close match to fencing powerhouse Penn State by a score of 14-13 and then coming back to thrash North Carolina, 19-8.

Junior épée Ben Solomon led the Tigers with an undefeated 5-0 record through the two matches.

Meanwhile, the women's team also split its matches, losing to an impressive Penn St. team, 20-7, but rebounding to dominate North Carolina, 21-6.

"Penn St. is perhaps our toughest dual meet of the season," junior épée Kira Hohensee said, adding that the Nittany Lions are usually one of the top few teams in the NCAA on both the men's and women's sides.

Junior foil Jacqueline Leahy led the Tigers with a 5-1 record for both meets, the only member of the women's squad to defeat a majority of the Penn St. fencers she faced.

Leahy's performance stood out against an otherwise weak overall finish against the Nittany Lions. Penn St. soundly beat the Tigers, compiling wins of three points or more in each of the foil, épée and sabre divisions.

Not to be deterred, the Tigers dominated the Tar Heels in a match highlighted by Princeton's near-perfect 8-1 score in the épée.

Similarly, the men's team's strength lay in its épée fencers.

"Our épée team showed its dominance even without Soren Thompson," senior foil Scott Sherman said. Thompson, who fenced in Athens at the Olympics over the summer, did not compete in the dual meets.

For the weekend, the men's épée team went 14-4. Sherman noted that the team has five excellent épée fencers and that only three fence at a given meet — giving the team incredible depth.

Moreover, both the men and women had the opportunity to develop their younger players' skills by fencing several freshmen over the weekend.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Among them was Kira Hohensee's brother, freshman foil Douglas Hohensee, who compiled a 5-1 record against Penn St. and North Carolina, leading the men's team in that weapon. Teammate and fellow freshman Tommi Hurme also went 5-1 in the épée division.

For the women, freshman Jane Yum went 3-0 against the Tar Heels after an 0-3 match against Penn St.

"[North Carolina] was a great way for the freshmen on the travel team to gain valuable experience," Kira Hohensee said, noting how difficult a team Penn St. was to fence.

Both the men's and women's squads will have several weeks without a team competition over the Winter Break, Reading Period and exam period. The next match for both teams will be their first Ivy League contest, to be held at Princeton on Jan. 29 against Columbia, St. John's, and Rutgers.

The teams look forward to fencing Ivy League power Columbia.

"They'll be tough, but I think we have a good shot at beating them this year," Kira Hohensee said.

In particular, the Lions have won at least a share of the men's championship each of the past four years.

"They're really the team to beat, as has been the case for the last few years," Sherman said.

The Lions are sure to put up a stiff fight against the Tigers, but if theycan retain the same sharpness shown over the past weekend, the fight will surely be one to remember.