Philpot Leads Women, UNC Men Take 3rd at ACC Championships

Saturday, February 25

Durham, N.C.

8:00 AM

North Carolina

ACC Championships

February 26, 2017 | Fencing

By: UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM, N.C. – The UNC men finished third in the team competition and junior Diana Philpot took fourth in women's sabre on the first day of the Atlantic Coast Conference Fencing Championships Saturday at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Tar Heel men beat Boston College 15-12 in the final meet of the afternoon to finish 1-2 on the day and boost their season record to 20-20 with the last dual meet of the season.

Notre Dame, ranked fourth in the nation, claimed the men's team championship for the third year in a row and also swept the women's individual weapons.

The fourth-place finish by Philpot, a biology major from Chapel Hill, highlighted the morning session for the Tar Heels. “Diana had an outstanding performance,” UNC coach Ron Miller said. “She had a good year, but it was a little inconsistent. Today she finally put it together against three good teams. And she also had to fence her teammates, which is actually harder than people think.

“She fenced phenomenally well in the third-place bout. It's a shame she lost by one touch but – and this is something she put into perspective – it's not the win or the loss, it's the way you fence.”

After Philpot in women's sabre, freshman Jackie Litynski was sixth, rebounding well after missing time with an injury. Junior Meredith Bozentka was 10th and senior Sarah Hanvy was 11th.

Junior Sara Moreno was UNC's top finisher in epee, placing eighth. Junior Samantha Galina was ninth, freshman Justine de Grasse was 12th and sophomore Erin O'Neill was 15th.

In foil, freshmen led the way with Wei Chee Chen in seventh and Carlexa Fevry eighth. Sophomore Sydney Persing took 11th and senior Amanda Lalezarian was 12th.

“The main thing for the women is consistency,” Miller said. “Overall, we did OK today. Tomorrow we're going to have to do much better than OK.”

In the afternoon session, the UNC men started with an 18-9 loss to Duke (the Tar Heel epee squad won 6-3) and then a 24-3 loss to Notre Dame. “We started out fairly strong against Duke but hit the usual 5-4 inconsistencies and we didn't finish well,” Miller said. “Men's epee did really well. Still, you need three squads to win.”

After the loss to Notre Dame, Carolina turned its attention to the final meet of the day, looking to pick up a win but starting slowly. “Going into Boston College we were licking our wounds and not really looking at the opponent and they jumped on us early, but we came back and went ahead,” Miller said. “And then it was back and forth for a while, but when it came down to it and we had to have the bouts at the end, the guys picked them up.”

Seniors picked up key wins at the end, Ezra Baeli-Wang in foil and Michael Gopman Slonim in epee, and then freshman Brian Lee won the last bout in foil to make the final score 15-12. “It was a good finish on the day,” Miller said. “For us on the season, it means a 20-20 year, and we were 12-18 last year so that's a big change. We beat all the teams we're supposed to beat. We didn't break in against somebody we probably could have, but that's coming next year.”

Championship competition continues on Sunday with the men's individual competition beginning at 7 a.m. The women's team event follows, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Live coverage on ACC Network Extra will start at 11:30 a.m. with the men's individual weapon finals.

Results, Sat., Feb. 25

Men's Team Standings

1. Notre Dame (3-0)

2. Duke (2-1)

3. North Carolina (1-2)

4. Boston College (0-3)

Men's Team Results

Round 1

Notre Dame def. Boston College, 21-6 (S72/F72/E72)

Duke def. North Carolina, 18-9 (S72/F81/E36)

Round 2

Notre Dame def. North Carolina, 24-3 (S81/F81/E81)