Fencing: Irish bring out brooms with sweep at Duke
By MATT LOZAR
Sports Editor
When the national championships roll around in less than six weeks, the team with the highest combined score wins the title. At the Duke Duals this past weekend, the Irish showed a resilient team attitude with the mens and womens team each sweeping five matches.
"It was excellent. The whole team did a wonderful job," junior epeeist Kerry Walton said. "We were a little disappointed that the men and women weren't fencing on the same day. We didn't get to cheer each other on as much as we could, but when the whole team was together, it was great."
While all of the wins by Notre Dame's womens team were by at least nine points, the individual weapons had to pick each other up in two of those victories. Against Air Force, the epee and sabre squads each went 5-4, but the foil squad created some cushion with an 8-1 record.
In the matchup with Stanford, the epee squad was 9-0 while the sabre squad was 7-2. This time, those two weapons helped the foil squad, which went 3-6 in a tough matchup against 2001 NCAA Champion Iris Zimmerman. The total team effort comes from Notre Dame's overall team depth.
"We can all back each other up. I think we have the strongest team overall," Walton said. "There are some teams that excel in one weapon. I feel we have the strongest overall team. The other two teams can pick up the extra wins when the other weapon faces a tough opponent."
Notre Dame sophomore and defending national champion Alicja Kryczalo surprisingly dropped two bouts this weekend. Kryczalo, who lost only twice last season, has a record of 36-3 this year.
On the mens side, senior foil captain Ozren Debic continued his dominating season with a perfect 15-0 record at Duke. Debic is now 42-1 on the season and on pace for one of the best seasons in Notre Dame fencing history.
"Oz is fencing amazing," sophomore foilist Derek Snyder said. "He has beaten some really strong people this year.
"Our foil team is really prepared for NCAAs this year."
Against the sixth-ranked Cardinal, the Irish cruised to victory by getting six wins at each weapon for an 18-9 win. Sophomore epeeist Michal Sobieraj, senior sabreman Matt Fabricant and Debic each recorded three win against Stanford.
"We fenced really well," Snyder said. "We proved we can go in there and sweep the tourney and have a strong showing at NCAAs."
With the new national rankings scheduled to be released later this week, wins over No. 4 Ohio State, No. 1 Penn State and No. 6 Stanford all but guarantee the Notre Dame mens team will take over the top spot in the polls for the third consecutive year.
The five victories extend the mens dual match-winning streak to 78.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 11, 2003
