Here are some more notes from Sunday's women's bouts at the Northwestern Duals. We still are missing detailed results (namely for Ohio State), in terms of individual records and key head-to-head results.
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The #8-ranked TEMPLE squad turned in an 8-2 weekend that included Sunday's narrow upset win over over #6 Northwestern (14-13) and a Saturday win (19-8) over #10 North Carolina (the Owls lost 19-8 vs. #2 ND and 17-10 to #3 OSU).
Northwestern actually won two of the weapons versus Temple (6-3 in foil, 5-4 in epee), but the Owls flew away with the one-point win thanks to a decisive 7-2 win in sabre. Epee All-American Kristin Howell (who placed 9th at the '08 NCAAs) went 3-0 in the win over the Wildcats.
Temple's victory over UNC included an 8-1 margin in epee, pus 6-3 in sabre and 5-4 in foil, helping improve Temple's overall record to 17-5 for the season. The Owls' top fencers over the course of the weekend included: Howell (who also was 3-0 vs. OSU) with a 16-4 two-day record, fellow epeeists Jillian Bratton (12-5) and Grace Wu (11-4), and sabre leaders Kristine Jones (12-5), Samantha Pascarelli (12-1) and Kamali Thompson (11-3). Jones, along with Howell and Wu, are among the five current Temple fencers who have fenced in past NCAA Championships.
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The #2 NOTRE DAME women defeated #3 Ohio State on Sunday (17-10), avenging a 14-13 loss the previous weekend at the NYU Duals. OSU edged ND in the foil bouts at the NU Duals (5-4), but the Irish won seven epee bouts and six in sabre. Notre Dame sabreist Sarah Borrmann (the '08 NCAA champ) went 3-0 in the win over the Buckeyes, while epeeist Ewa Nelip (3rd at '08 NCAAs) and foil All-American Hayley Reese both were 2-0 (four other ND fencers were 2-1 vs. OSU). Ohio State's top fencers included epeeist Julia Tichonova and the foil duo of Oksana Dmytruk and Lindsay Knauer (all three were 2-1 vs. ND).
Notre Dame claimed an early 5-2 lead on OSU but the Buckeyes quickly tied the score (5-5), with key wins from sabreist Falencia Miller (5-4 over All-American Eileen Hassett) and Tichonova, who bested defending NCAA epee champion Kelley Hurley in an overtime bout (2-1). The Irish then all but clinched the match by winning eight straight bouts (13-5), with key wins coming from Serrette (5-1 over Miller), Nelip (5-2 vs. Tichonova) and three-time foil All-American Adi Nott, who topped '08 NCAA runner-up Dmytruk in another overtime thriller (4-3).
There were several other ND-OSU bouts of note, including Knauer's split vs. fellow All-Americans Reese (1-5 loss) and Nott (5-3 win). Both Hurley sisters (Kelley and Courtney) went 2-1 in their epee bouts for the Irish, while Nott and Hassett also had 2-1 days versus OSU.
The Irish women's Sunday action also included a 16-11 win over the host team and a 23-4 victory over #10 UNC, as Notre Dame left Evanston with a 17-2 season record. The ND-Northwestern women's foil rivalry has been fierce throughout the current decade and that continued to be the case on Sunday, with the Wildcats claiming a 7-2 win in the weapon (ND owned a commanding 8-1 edge in epee, plus 6-3 in foil).
Hassett and Nelip both went 3-0 against Northwestern, while each of the Hurley sisters was 2-0 (Reese and Borrmann added 2-1 marks). Wildcats three-time All-America foilist Samantha Nemecek turned in her own 3-0 mark in the ND-NU matchup, with her foil teammates Camille Provencal-Dayle and Devynn Patterson each adding 2-1 efforts.
Nemecek defeated fellow All-Americans Reese (5-0) and Nott (5-3), while Provencal-Dayle (5-4) and Patterson (5-2) both added victories over Nott. All three of Northwestern's epeeists are past All-Americans, but they managed only one combined win versus the Irish. Texas fencing was well-represented in those epee bouts, as the Hurley sisters spent most of their formative years in San Antonio while NU junior twins Christa and Kayley French are natives of Southlake, Texas.
Nelip beat both French sisters (5-2 vs. Kayley, 5-4/OT vs. Christa) and also topped Joanna Niklinska (5-0). Courtney Hurley added wins over Christa (5-4/OT) and Niklinska (5-0), while the older Hurley sister won yet another overtime bout (5-4, vs. Kayley) and defeated Niklinska 5-2. Newcomer Diane Zielinski added the final epee win for the Irish, 5-3 vs. Kayley French.
Notre Dame shut out UNC in foil, plus 8-1 in epee and 6-3 in sabre.
Nelip did not lose a bout all weekend (18-0; now 37-2 for the season) while Borrmann was 19-2, and Courtney Hurley and Hassett each weny 17-2. Reese racked up 24 wins in her foil bouts, as did Serrette in sabre (giving her an ND record 215 career wins in women's sabre action).
Sunday's matches also featured Ohio State's 22-5 win over North Carolina (in another top-10 matchup). The OSU win over UNC featured a sweep in foil, with the Buckeyes also winning eight sabre bouts and five in epee (again, we have not been able to receive any other details from OSU's weekend bouts).
The Northwestern women went 7-4 in the home tournament, leaving their season record at 25-7. Nemecek was unbeaten (9-0) on Sunday and 18-2 for the weekend, pushing her career record to 379-63 (still the third-most wins in the program's history). Nemecek's career win pct. now stands at .857, narrowly ahead of the standing record held by epeeist Kate Rudkin (.856), who placed third at the 2002 NCAAs.
Sabreist Ashlee McLemore was Detroit's top women's fencer at the NU Duals, with her 15-10 record including wins over fencers from UNC and the host team.
