PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Johns Hopkins men's fencing team went 2-3 on the second day of the Philadelphia Invitational. Hopkins earned wins over Lafayette and Sacred Heart, but dropped contests against #8 Penn, #7 Duke and #10 NYU.
Hopkins kicked off the day with a 21-6 win over Lafayette. Senior
David DeScherer and freshman
Alex Jeffords won two bouts each to lead the Sabre squad to an 8-1 win. Sophomore
Pranav Shibu won all three of his bouts as the Foil squad won 7-2. Junior
Gabe Insler, sophomore
Ethan Kim and freshman
Jorge Gana each won two bouts as the Epee squad won 6-3.
JHU lost to host and eighth-ranked Penn 17-10 in the next round. The Sabre squad won a tight 5-4 match with junior
William Hu and senior
Sachin Mehta winning twice each. Junior
Anthony Bae won the lone bout for the Foil squad. Freshman
Matthew Dao won two of his bouts to lead the Epee squad in a tough 5-4 loss.
Hopkins then lost to seventh-ranked Duke, 16-11. Hu, Mehta and junior
Qilin Tong won one bout each in a 6-3 loss by the Sabre squad. Bae and sophomore
Alan Zheng combined for four wins as the Foil squad lost a close one, 5-4. Gana led the Epee squad with two wins in another close 5-4 loss.
The Blue Jays got back in the win column with a 20-7 win over the Sacred Heart Pioneers. DeScherer won all three of his bouts to lead the Sabre squad to a 6-3 win. Zheng also went 3-0 as the Foil squad won by the same 6-3 score. And in the Epee, Dao won three times in an 8-1 win for JHU.
Hopkins wrapped up the weekend against NYU, the top-ranked team in Division III and the 10
th-ranked team overall. The Sabre squad lost a tough 5-4 decision with DeScherer winning twice. Zheng and Bae won one bout each in a 7-2 loss for the Foil squad. Dao earned both of the Blue Jays' wins in a 7-2 loss by the Epee squad.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 11 at the Duke Invitational.
Sabre • 26-19
David DeScherer • 9-3
William Hu • 6-5
Alex Jeffords • 5-1
Sachin Mehta • 4-6
Qilin Tong • 2-4
Foil • 20-25
Anthony Bae • 4-4
Spencer Grossman Smisek • 4-10
Pranav Shibu • 4-4
Alan Zheng • 8-7
Epee • 24-21
Danny Comer • 1-1
Matthew Dao • 8-4
Jorge Gana • 5-6
Gabe Insler • 5-7
Ethan Kim • 5-3
