The men’s fencing team was on the road last weekend, traveling to Durham, North Carolina for the Duke Invitational on Feb. 9 and returning to Homewood for the MACFA Round Robin on Feb. 10. The squad went 6-3 overall for the weekend.
The team started strong in North Carolina, beating Wayne State 19-8 and sweeping all three weapons in the process. Freshman Josiah Yiu won all three of his bouts in the Sabre. Hopkins then lost a tough decision 17-10 to second-ranked Notre Dame. Similar to Yiu, fellow freshman John Petrie won all three of his bouts against the Fighting Irish. The team came back strong, edging out UNC 15-12. Hopkins almost swept all three weapons, only losing the Sabre 5-4. Petrie and freshman Glenn Balbus combined for four wins in the Foil. Next up was the top-ranked team in the nation, Penn State. The Lions flexed their muscles, beating the Jays 22-5. Yiu was the only Blue Jay with two wins. To conclude the day, Hopkins faced tenth-ranked Duke, who lost to the Blue Jays only two weeks earlier. However the story would end differently this time, as Duke won a close one at 16-11. Yiu went 3-0 in his bouts and junior Jay DeYoung added two wins. Yiu led the way for the Blue Jays on the day, going 11-3. The team went 2-3 at the end of the day.
After a competitive venture into Tar Heel country, the Jays returned to Homewood to host the Round Robin phase of the MACFA tournament. The Blue Jays swept all four matches on the day, improving their record to 17-8. Hopkins started the round robin against Rutgers, sweeping all three weapons en route to a convincing 24-3 win. A strong performance from the freshmen on the Epee team contributed greatly to the win, as Mark Zimmerman, Andy Huang, and Brent Schottenfeld led the way with a 9-0 result. Next was Drew University, who fell to the Blue Jays 16-11. Senior, Nicolas Barbera won all three of his bouts in the Sabre to take the win. Hopkins then went on to beat Cornell 16-11. Yiu won two out of his three bouts in the Sabre and Foil. Freshman Mark Zimmerman once again charged ahead, winning all three of his bouts and clinching the win. Last on the docket was Lafayette, who the Blue Jays handily beat 24-3. Freshman Lance Shen-Kinney led the way in Sabre with a 3-0 round. Zimmerman carried the weight for the team going 11-1 in the day.
