Hot Start Gives Tar Heels Cause For Celebration - University of North Carolina Athletics

Sunday, February 10

Durham, N.C.

8:00 AM

North Carolina

Duke Dual Meets (Women)

UNC's win over Boston College was No. 1,600 in an outstanding career for Ron Miller.

Photo by: Andy Mead

February 10, 2019 | Fencing

Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina women's fencing team upset second-ranked Northwestern and earned a landmark win for its coach in an up-and-down Sunday of competition at the Duke Meet. Fencing in Card Gym on the Duke campus, UNC front-loaded the day's excitement into the first two meets, beating the Wildcats 14-13 and then topping Boston College 16-11 to give UNC coach Ron Miller his 1,600^th career victory in his 52^nd year at the program's helm.

"The morning was great," Miller said. "Everyone was together, most everyone was healthy again, and we took down the number two team in the nation. It was consistent – all three weapons fenced well. It shows you what we're capable of doing."

It's fair to say neither of the day's highs was expected. The Tar Heels came into the meet with three top-six teams ahead of them, and weren't zeroed in on winning the opener. "We got on strip and just fenced really great and all of a sudden we started to realize the momentum was building," said senior Sydney Persing. "They're definitely the best team we've beaten this season."

Junior Carlexa Fevry clinched the win with a foil victory, and the Tar Heels went back to work, rolled right into a matchup with Atlantic Coast Conference foe Boston College. "Boston College has improved," Miller said, "and they gave us a good run."

He came into the day with 1,598 career wins but never mentioned that to the team, even after the upset to start the day put him just a victory away. "It's classic Coach Miller that he didn't say anything," Persing said. "He didn't want to get into our heads."

As it turned out, Persing would clinched the team win with a foil bout, and Miller pulled her aside to let her know that one was worth a bit more than just a win over a conference rival. "It's always exciting when you can celebrate a moment like that with Coach," Persing said.

From there on out, the day got more trying. UNC then fell 16-11 to No. 6 Duke and 17-10 to No. 4 Penn State. "All in all, we fenced well but not quite well enough," Miller said. "Against Penn State, we were with them two-thirds of way through the meet and then had a backslide at the end."

The day ended with a disappointing 18-9 loss to Air Force. "We were simply not there, emotionally or physically," Miller said. "On the day I think we did great, but we we're great in that last match. I have to give credit to Air Force – they fenced very well."

The weekend marked the end of the regular season for UNC, with the women 24-16 and the men 23-14. Next up for UNC is the ACC Championship Feb. 23-24 at Boston College. The Tar Heel women are the defending champions.

Duke Meet
Durham, N.C.
Feb. 10, 2019

UNC 14, Northwestern 13
Foil: NU 5-4
Epee: UNC 6-3
Sabre: NU 5-4

UNC 16, BC 11
Foil: BC 5-4
Epee: UNC 6-3
Sabre: UNC 6-3

Duke 16, UNC 11
Foil: DU 7-2
Epee: UNC 6-3
Sabre: Duke 6-3

Penn State 17, UNC 10
Foil: PSU 6-3
Epee: PSU 5-4
Sabre: PSU 6-3

Air Force 18, UNC 9
Foil: AF 8-1
Epee: AF 5-4
Sabre: AF 5-4