Notre Dame has jumped up in the NCAA fencing team competition, after sweeping Ohio State in the first round of women's epee bouting. Courtney Hurley posted a 2-1 overtime win over Julia Tikhanova and added a 5-2 victory over Miriam Baranov, while Eva Nelip beat both of the OSU fencers in 5-1 bouts.
The Irish – who entered the day five point behind OSU and 14 back of leader Penn State –then held ground by splitting four women's sabre bouts vs. PSU. ND's Sarah Borrmann (the defending NCAA champ) beat Monica Aksamit (5-2) but lost to Caity Thompson by the same score. Eileen Hassett had the reverse split, with a 5-3 win over Thompson but a 1-5 loss to Aksamit.
Note that the key matchup list posted earlier on the blog was a bit off, but is updated below. It's a big day for the PSU women's foilists and sabresits ... (more to come later in the day)
KEY SATURDAY MATCHUPS
Women's Foil: Penn State vs. Ohio State (round-2) ... Penn State vs. Notre Dame (round-3)
Women's Epee: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame (ND 4, OSU 0)
Women's Sabre: Penn State vs. Notre Dame (ND 2, PSU 2) ... Penn State vs. Ohio State (round-4)