Jan. 31, 2005

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins women's fencing team went 2-2 at its only home meet of the season, defeating Stevens 17-10 and Fairleigh Dickinson 19-8 and falling to Haverford 14-13 and to Temple 19-8 last Saturday. The Blue Jays then traveled to Penn, where the men defeated Rutgers 14-13 and Drew 17-10 and fell to Penn 23-4, and the women defeated Rutgers 16-11 and lost to Penn 22-5 and to Drew 20-7.

In their own gym, the Blue Jay women went 28-8 in sabre including 8-1 wins over Stevens and FDU and 6-3 wins over Haverford and Temple. Foil finished the day 17-19 after defeating Stevens 6-3 and FDU 7-2, while the epee team went 12-24, losing 5-4 to both FDU and Haverford.

At Penn, the men's foil squad finished with a 16-11 record behind Nick Marchuk, Bryan Bishe and Max Yusem. Yusem went undefeated against Drew and Rutgers while Bishe suffered just two losses in eight bouts.

Sabre also ended the day with a winning record, 14-13, including a 7-2 performance against Drew. Aaron Fernandes went 3-0 against the Rangers and 2-1 against Rutgers while Jason Park picked up the Blue Jays' only two wins against Penn. Jake Sand finished 2-1 against Drew and Rutgers but was winless against the Quakers.

Epee, hurt by a 9-0 shutout by Penn, went 5-22 at the tournament with four of those victories coming against Drew. John Majewski picked up two wins over the Rangers and had the only Hopkins victory in the Rutgers match while Tom Fellows and Anson Tang tallied a win apiece against Drew.

Like the men, the Blue Jay women had their best day in foil where they also finished 16-11 including a 7-2 win over Rutgers. Kim Strazdas went undefeated against the Scarlet Knights while Joanna Kochaniak and Liz Orden each finished 2-1. Foilist substitute Jen Petsche picked up two wins on the day.

"We had our toughest opponents yet in Pennsylvania," head coach Jim Murray said. "Our players showed they have 'the right stuff' to rebound and win over Rutgers."

The women's epee team defeated Rutgers 7-2 and finished 8-19 overall after a shutout by Penn. Catherine Chen went 3-0 against the Red Knights while Cindy Liu picked up the team's only win over the Rangers. Catherine Gallagher finished 2-1 and Sophie Lu went 1-1 against Rutgers.

Sabre had the toughest day for the Blue Jays, finishing 4-23 overall. Rachel Sussman and Michelle Gutierrez won their first bouts against Rutgers while Sarah Smilow had the only Hopkins win against Penn. Gutierrez picked up another win against Drew.