University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Northwestern Dual Meets
Tar Heel Depth Comes Through At Northwestern Duals
February 5, 2016 | Fencing
The busy weekend of competition gave the Tar Heels plenty of opportunities to learn and improve, with the women finishing 8-3 and the men 5-4 over the course of the two-day competition, held on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. Across all weapons, the Tar Heels received solid contributions from non-starters as they continue to build valuable depth.
“The thing that was impressive to me was in many meets we took the starters out after the first two round and we were able to use all of our depth fencers,” Miller said. “In one meet the starters didn't even fence and we still won by a large score. It was good because we got to see some people we would not ordinarily get to see.”
That was the case out of necessity in women's epee. Because a starter was ill, Beni Mathieu, a freshman who hadn't seen much competition, got an opportunity and came through with a 10-9 weekend. “She did very well,” Miller said.
In women's sabre, sophomore Meredith Bozentka led the way with a 21-7 record, the squad's best over the weekend. Sara Moreno was 20-8 in women's epee and Amanda Lalezarian was 16-7 in women's foil. “All the starters in foil did great, but then the fourth position produced some wins too,” Miller said. “Probably the best result there was from Alicia Chen, one of our freshmen, who was 6-2. She did a great job.”
“The women won 52 in epee, 55 in sabre and 55 in foil – they were almost dead even all the way down the line,” Miller said. “They were consistent in each meet. The men on the other hand were less consistent but actually had a pretty good weekend. Again, our depth fencers really improved.”
In men's sabre, top starters Connor Ritchey (19-6) and Matthew Garrelick (17-7) performed well, as usual. But this time the team also got strong production from the third spot, where Theophilus Onigbinde was 10-11, Turner Wibbelsman was 3-5 and Griffin Morehead was 2-1. “They produced 15 wins, which was very important,
Miller said.
In men's epee, the best records belonged to sophomore Matthew Shlimak at 15-6 and freshman Jason Xu at 12-8. Junior Ezra Baeli-Wang had the top record in men's foil at 8-6, while senior Jake Bernstein was 5-5.
Overall, the men had 51 wins in sabre, 40 wins in epee and 30 in foil. “They had some great performances individually, but consistency is what we lack,” Miller said. “We're continuing to work toward that.”
Next up for UNC is the closest the team comes to competing at home this season. The Tar Heels will compete Saturday and Sunday at the Duke Dual Meets, just a short drive away in Durham. Action starts at 8 a.m. each day.
RESULTS
Northwestern University Duals
South Bend, Ind.
DAY 1
Round 1
UNC women 19, Air Force 8
Sabre: UNC 7-2
Foil: AF 5-4
Epee: UNC 8-1
Round 2
UCSD 15, UNC women 12
Sabre: UCSD 6-3
Foil: UCSD 5-4
Epee: UNC 5-4
Round 3
Bye
Round 4
UNC women 23, Cal Tech 4
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: UNC 9-0
Epee: 6-3
Round 5
UNC women 16, Wayne State 11
Sabre: WS 6-3
Foil: WS 5-4
Epee: UNC 9-0
Round 6
UNC women 24, Lawrence 3
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: UNC 8-1
Epee: UNC 8-1
UNC men 25, Wayne State 2
Sabre: UNC 7-2
Foil: UNC 9-0
Epee: UNC 9-0
Round 7
Stanford 20, UNC men 7
Sabre: SU 6-3
Foil: SU 9-0
Epee: SU 5-4
Round 8
UNC women 16, Fairleigh Dickinson 11
Sabre: UNC 9-0
Foil: FSU 5-4
Epee: FDU 6-3
UNC men 18, Cal Tech 9
Sabre: UNC 9-0
Foil: UNC 5-4
Epee: CT 5-4
DAY 2
Round 1
Northwestern 20, UNC women 7
Sabre: NU 6-3
Foil: NU 7-2
Epee: NU 7-2
UCSD 17, UNC men 10
Sabre: UCSD 6-3
Foil: UCSD 7-2
Epee: UNC 5-4
Round 2
Air Force 14, UNC men 13
Sabre: AF 5-4
Foil: AF 6-3
Epee: UNC 6-3
Princeton 17, UNC women 10
Sabre: PU 7-2
Foil: UNC 7-2
Epee: PU 8-1
Round 3
UNC women 14, Stanford 13
Sabre: SU 7-2
Foil: UNC 8-1
Epee: SU 5-4
Round 4
UNC men 16, Lawrence 11
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: LAW 6-3
Epee: UNC 5-4
UNC women 26, Detroit 1
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: UNC 9-0
Epee: UNC 9-0
Round 5
Princeton 20, UNC men 7
Sabre: PU 7-2
Foil: PU 9-0
Epee: UNC 5-4
Round 6
UNC men 16, Cleveland State 11
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: UNC 5-4
Epee: CSU 6-3
UNC women 22, Cleveland State 5
Sabre: UNC 8-1
Foil: UNC 5-4
Epee: 9-0
Round 7
Bye
Round 8
UNC men 21, Detroit 6
Sabre: UNC 7-2
Foil: 6-3
Epee: 8-1
Round 9
Bye
Players Mentioned
