North Carolina
Penn State Duals
Men Defeat Ranked Hosts At Penn State Duals
January 16, 2023 | Fencing
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. The North Carolina fencing team traveled to State College on Sunday to take on some of the nation's best at the Penn State Duals. The men's team finished with a 2-3 record, and the women at 1-4. The Tar Heels made the most of a challenging slate, with four of the five teams faced being ranked in the top 15.
The men started the duals with a pair of crushing one-point losses. In round one, the unranked men fell to No. 8 Penn 14-13. Off the back of a bye in round two, the Heels fell 14-13 yet again in round three, this time to No. 11 Yale.
Following a 21-6 loss to #2 Columbia in the fourth round, the Heels came out in round five ready to make a statement. Strong performances from foil and sabre were enough to take down the fifth-ranked hosts, Penn State, 15-12. The upset of No. 5 Penn State gives the Carolina men's fencing team their third-ranked win of the season.
"We had success all weekend with certain squads, but to see it come together in one meet against Penn State was awesome. That's the goal every time we fence," said Head Coach Matt Jednak.
In the final round, the men made easy work of Haverford, defeating the Black Squirrels 22-5.
Then women fought through a tough slate of opponents in the opening rounds. They started the day falling 17-10 to No. 8 Penn, 19-8 to #12 Yale, 18-9 to No. 3 Columbia, and 18-9 to No. 7 Penn State. Despite coming up short in the early rounds, the Heels were able to bounce back and deliver their most dominant performance of the season. Led by sabre's perfect 9-0 record, the Tar Heels defeated Haverford 25-2 in the final round.
"The team is really starting to trust each other more. When we talk about this idea of fear of failure, they are pushing past that. They are trusting that if it doesn't succeed, the team will be there to support them to pick them back up," said Jednak.
Freshman Elden Wood and sophomore Sophia Kovacs both continued their stellar runs of form this weekend. Coming off a winter break that saw both of them represent Team USA and place in the top 20 of the January NAC, the two were clear standouts for the Tar Heels.
Wood finished the day with a record of 5-1. He was instrumental in the Heel's big win over No. 5 Penn State, going 3-0 in his bouts against the Nittany Lions. Wood also impressed against No. 2 Columbia, going 2-1.
The Heels just have a few days to rest before they head back to Pennsylvania for the Temple Duals on Friday, and the Penn Duals on Saturday. With three bouts in seven days and nearly 30 hours of travel, the Heels will have to do a lot of work to make sure they stay ready to go.
"We came back (from break) early to train and prepare for this. We had yoga, weights, footwork, conditioning, mental health, and a lot of other things in there to build up for these moments," said Jednak. "We are also lucky enough to have a lot of personnel so no one person has to take all of it on themselves."
Players Mentioned
