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Fencing
Fencing Keeps Rolling With Eight More Wins At Ohio State Duals
Feb. 9, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio- The second-ranked Notre Dame men's and women's fencing teams both went 4-0 on Saturday at the Ohio State Duals, with the day's highlights including a convincing 23-4 win for the Irish women over sixth-ranked Northwestern while both Notre Dame teams topped the nationally-ranked Buckeyes (16-11 for the men and 15-12 for the women). The day's most-anticipated matchup came in men's sabre between ND and OSU, with the Irish winning five of the nine bouts (senior captain Andre Crompton and junior Matt Fabricant both went 2-1). The Notre Dame men (14-0) - despite the absence of injured freshman sensation Michal Sobieraj and his 26-1 epee record - extended the third-longest regular-season winning streak in Irish men's fencing history to 55 matches (spanning three seasons), adding wins over Cleveland State (25-2), Northwestern (22-50 and Wayne State (21-6). The freshman women's foil duo of Andrea Ament and Alicja Kryczalo both went unbeaten, pushing their combined season record to 58-4. Ament (22-2) shook off a nagging foot injury to win all 12 of her bouts at OSU while Kryczalo improved her season record to 36-2 with an 11-0 day.
Three other Irish fencers added solid one-loss records for the day, including junior men's epee captain Jan Viviani (11-1, 35-3 season record), freshman foilist Derek Snyder (8-1, 32-6) and sophomore women's epeeist Kerry Walton (10-1, 45-5). Viviani maintained the best career winning percentage in Notre Dame men's epee history (.888, 111-14) while ND's all-time leader in men's foil winning percentage, junior captain Ozren Debic, went 4-0 in limited action for a 30-2 season mark and 114-7 in his career (.942, also sixth all-time among all ND men's weapons).
The Irish women pushed their season record to 16-2 and avenged last week's 15-12 loss to Northwestern at the Air Force Duals, with ND's other wins at OSU coming vs. Cleveland State (26-1) and Wayne State (23-4). Other top performers for the Irish women included fifth-year women's sabre captain Carianne McCullough (9-2, including 3-0 vs. Northwestern) and sophomore Destanie Milo (10-2, 2-1 vs. the Wildcats). Viviani's only loss of the day came versus OSU's Spencer Jones (5-4) while Snyder's lone loss came against OSU's Craig Galanter. The only blemish on Walton's day was a 5-2 loss to OSU's Toya Richmond. Updated national rankings are expected to be released on Feb. 19, with both Notre Dame teams ranked No. 2 in the first poll that was conducted prior to the season.
ND-OSU RECAP NOTES * Walton beat OSU All-American Alexandra Shklar (the 6th-place NCAA finisher in 2001) by a 5-2 count, with Shklar edging ND's Meagan Call (5-4) and beating Anna Carnick (5-2).
ND-NORTHWESTERN WOMEN'S NOTES * Call and Carnick continued their competition with Midwestern rivals Kate Rudkin (4th at 2001 NCAAs) and NCAA qualifier Jen Greenebaum, with Call dropping a close 5-4 bout to Rudkin and beating Greenebaum (5-3) while beat Rudkin (5-3) and Greenebaum (5-0) ... Walton also beat both Northwestern fencers (5-4 and 5-2).
OTHER NoTES * Wayne State All-American Inga Wallrabenstein (5th at 2001 NCAAs) dropped a pair of 5-4 bouts to Ament and Kryczalo. * ND's top weapons this season remain the men's epee squad - which has won nearly 82 percent of its bouts (103-23) - followed by the women's epee team (.778, 126-36) and the veteran men's sabre squad (.770, 97-29).
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