Tar Heels Top Haverford, Gain Experience At Penn State

Saturday, January 16

State College, Pa.

All Day

North Carolina

Penn State Dual Meets

January 17, 2016 | Fencing

By: UNC Athletic Communications

The UNC men's and women's fencing teams competed at the Penn State Dual Meets on Saturday, gaining plenty of experience against a very competitive field.

The Tar Heel squads both defeated Haverford, with the women winning 22-5 and the men 20-7. The UNC women also defeated Yale in a close match, 14-13, and had several close losses. “The women were with two bouts of beating Penn State and three bouts of beating Penn,” UNC coach Ron Miller said. “The women started really strong and ended the day with 18 wins and 16 losses at 5-4, lots of close bouts.”

“The men were consistently inconsistent. The women had a more consistent day.

All in all, it was a good start for early season. It's always tough to start with stronger teams.”

The competitive field consisted of host Penn State (men ranked No. 5, women ranked No. 8), defending NCAA Champion Columbia (men ranked No. 1, women ranked No. 2), University of Pennsylvania (men ranked No. 3, women ranked No. 9), Yale (women's team among those outside the top 10 but also receiving votes), Temple (the school has only a women's team, which is ranked No. 10) and Haverford, in addition to UNC.

Carolina's men and women are both receiving votes in the coaches' poll, which includes just 10 teams.

Freshman Sydney Persing had a particularly strong day, going 11-6 in women's foil. “Sydney set the tone,” Miller said. “She had a really good day.”

The Tar Heels return to Pennsylvania again next Saturday, Jan. 23, for the Penn Dual Meets in Philadelphia.

Penn State Dual Meets

Jan. 16, 2016

University Park, Pa.

UNC vs. Penn State

Men: Penn State 24-3

Epee: PSU 7-2

Foil: PSU 8-1

Sabre: PSU 9-0

Women: Penn State 15-12