Nov. 7, 2006
Three members of the Notre Dame women's fencing team - senior sabreist Valerie Providenza, sophomore foilist Adi Nott and freshman epeeist Kelley Hurley - placed second over the weekend at the annual Penn State Open. The Irish men's team saw five of its fencers finish in the top-8: senior epeeist Aaron Adjemian (3rd), sophomore foilist Mark Kubik (4th), senior sabreists Patrick Ghattas (7th) and Matt Stearns (8th), and junior foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak (7th).
(Note: due to Notre Dame athletics department policy, the complete 2006-07 fencing schedule has yet to be posted on und.com because it has not been approved by the Faculty Board on Athletics.)
Providenza entered the PSU Open seeded No. 2 and won all 15 of her pool bouts to maintain the No. 2 seed entering the round-of-16 direct elimination. Her advancement to the title bout included a 15-8 quarterfinal win over Penn State's Sophie Hiss (who lost to Providenza in the 2004 NCAA title bout). Ohio State's Siobhan Byrne then beat Providenza in the final bout, 15-10.
Nott was seeded 11th before making her charge to the foil final, going 12-1 in her pool bouts to earn the 4th seed in the DE stage, ultimately losing the 15-7 final to Harvard's Emily Cross (the 2005 NCAA Champion and one of the world's top-ranked young foilists).
Hurley - like Cross one of the top-ranked young fencers in her weapon - earned the top seed and proceeded to win all 14 of her pool bouts. She topped Wayne State's Justyna Konczalska (the 4th-place finisher at the '06 NCAAs) in a 15-8 semifinal but was edged by her WSU teammate Anna Garina in the 15-13 final. The six-foot Garina won the NCAA title in 2004 and '05 before finishing as the 2006 runner-up.
Adjemian was seeded just 15th before using a 10-4 record in the pools to earn a No. 7 seed entering the DE. He then posted wins over teammate Greg Howard (15-13) and OSU's Jason Pryor (15-8) before losing a 15-13 semifinal to WSU's Marek Petraszek, the 2005 NCAA runner-up. Adjemian's 15-13 win over PSU's Dennis Kraft yielded a 3rd-place finish.
Kubik's finish lived up to his No. 4 seed, with his 12-2 record in the pool bouts yielding a No. 8 seed heading into the DE. His big win came in the quarterfinals - 15-10 over Harvard's Kai Itameri-Kinter (the No. 2 seed and a 6th-place finisher from the 2006 NCAAs) - followed by a 6-7 defensive battle vs. PSU's Chu Ming Chang in the semifnials and an 11-15 loss to OSU's Dmitri Kirk-Gordon in the 3rd-plaec bout.
Here are complete details from the 2006 Penn State Open, sorted by weapon:
WOMEN'S SABRE - The 57-fencer field included four from ND, with Providenza finishing as the runner-up, sophomores Ashley Serrette 21st and Christina Zoccoli 34th, and senior Erin Housing 50th ... PROVIDENZA entered as the #2 seed and moved up to #1 after going 5-0 in her first pool bouts ... she then was #3 after another 5-0 round and moved back to #2 after going 5-0 in the third pool round (which included a 5-4 win over Harvard's Alexa Weingarden, the pre-tournament #10 seed) ... Providenza's DE bouts included a 15-14 win over OSU's Syvenna Siebert (a #10 seed), the 15-8 bout with PSU's Hiss (#3 seed), a 15-7 semifinal with Harvard's Carolyn Wright and the 15-10 loss in the final vs. Byrne (Wright and Byrne were tied for the #4 seed entering the tournament) ... Providenza was 3rd at the PSU Open as a freshman (fall of '03) before winning in '04 and reaching the semifinals in '05 ... SERRETTE was seeded 32nd but moved up to #21 after going 3-2 in her first pool, with a 5-4 win over Penn's Cassandra Partyka (a 2006 NCAA participant) and a 5-3 loss to PSU's Hiss ... she then improved to #18 after a 2-3 mark in round-2 (1-5 loss to Byrne) and went 1-4 in her final round, with losses to OSU's Siebert (4-5) and PSU's Hiss (3-5) ... ZOCCOLI ended up matching her #34 seed with her finish ... she improved to 18th after a 3-2 record in the first pool bouts, highlighted by a 5-3 win over PSU's Laura Hillstrom (a #10 seed) ... she then was eliminated after losing all five of her pool-2 bouts, including 1-5 bouts with OSU's Eileen Grench (the top seed) and Harvard's Weingarden ... HOUSING also entered as a #34 seed but dropped to 54th after the first pool (1-4) ... she then entered the consolation bracket and posted wins over Drew's Grace Dippo (15-6) and UNC's Helen Marino 15-8 before losing to PSU's Lilly Matusiak (8-15).
WOMEN'S EPEE - The 70-fencer results included Hurley as the runner-up, ND sophomore Kim Montoya placing 25th and junior Anna Rodriguez finishing 43rd ... HURLEY was the #1 seed coming in but slipped to #2 after her first pool (5-0) before retaking the top spot after a second round of pools (5-0) that included wins over #7 seed Rebecca Moss of Yale (5-0) .. she kept her #1 status after another 5-0 pool that included wins over NCAA Tournament veteran Brianna Ferrar of Temple (#9 seed; 5-3), a 5-0 shutout of another NCAA regular (PSU's Case Szarwark, who placed 7th at the '06 NCAA) and a 5-4 bout with OSU's Alexandra Obrazcova ... Hurley's DE bouts included wins over Princeton's Chandler Clay (15-4), Northwestern newcomer and #3 seed Kayley French (15-5) and WSU's Konczalska (15-8), who placed 4th at the 2006 NCAAs ... the epee final them produced a close result, as Ukraine native and WSU standout Garina posted the 15-13 win ... MONTOYA - who was runner-up at the 2005 PSU Open - entered this year's bouting as the #14 seed but dropped to 18th after her first pool (4-10 ... she then finished 25th after splitting four bouts in round-2, with a 1-5 loss to PSU's Keri Byerts (the #4 seed) and a 5-4 win over #6 seed Kristin Howell of Temple ... RODRIGUEZ was seeded 54th before a 1-4 first pool that included a 1-5 loss to PSU's Byerts and a 5-0 win over OSU's Leslie Lampman .. she entered the consolation bracket as the #49 seed and posted wins over FDU's Erica Kuehn (15-12), UNC's Rachel Eschenbach (15-9) and Temple's Mellisa Forsythe (15-7) before dropping the consolation semifinal to Drew's Naomi Bocarsly (12-15).
WOMEN'S FOIL - The 55-fencer field produced Nott as the runner-up, fellow sophomore Emilie Prot placing 14th, junior Melanie Bautista 31st and fifth-year senior Colleen Walsh 40th ... NOTT - who placed 12th at the 2005 PSU Open - entered the weekend as the #11 seed and moved to 10th after a first pool (4-1) that included a 5-2 win over NCAA Tournament veteran Nina Gernes of Temple ... Nott then claimed the top seed after a 4-0 second pool that featured three top wins: 4-3 vs. #5 seed Abby Emerson of Penn, 5-0 vs. WSU's Lindsay Howard (an '06 NCAA paricipant) and 5-0 vs. #7 seed Zoya Abdikulova of Penn ... her third pool (4-1) included wins over #9 seed Jocelyn Scengsouk of Princeton (5-3) and an 0-5 loss to Penn's Ilana Sinkin (a 2006 NCAA participant) ... Nott entered the DE as the #4 seed and registered wins over PSU's Anne Jackson (15-4), 8th-seeded Melissa Parker of Temple (15-7) and Harvard's Arielle Pensler (15-2) before dropping the final to Harvard's Cross (7-15) ... PROT (9th at the '05 PSU Open) entered this year's event as the #23 seed, dropping to 37th despite a 4-0 first round (including a 5-4 bout with #4 seed Allison Glasser of PSU) ... Prot moved up to 22nd after her second round (2-2) that featured a 5-4 win over Temple's Nina Gernes (an '06 NCAA participant) and a 5-0 loss to PSU's Tam Najm (the #3 seed) ... she then earned a #14 seed into the DE thanks to a 3-2 final round, with a 5-4 win over regional rival and NCAA veteran Jessica Florendo of Northwestern, plus a 2-5 bout with Harvard's Cross and another loss to PSU's Najm (4-5) ... Prot's only DE bout was a 7-15 loss to Penn's Abby Emerson ... BAUTISTA was seeded 34th and moved up two spots (32nd) after a 2-3 first round (3-5 loss to NU's Florendo) ... she then was eliminated after a 1-3 second round, beating NU's Florendo (5-4) but losing to her Northwestern teammate and #2-seeded Sam Nemecek (3-5) and to PSU's Glasser (1-5) ... WALSH (23rd at the '03 PSU Open) was the #43 seed and improved to #38 after a first round (1-3) that included a 5-0 loss to Penn's Emerson and a 5-1 win over the #6 seed Jessica Wacker of UNC ... Walsh had a bye in the consolation bracket before beating UNC's Meredith Peck (15-2) also losing by the same score to PSU's Sara Gonzalez.
MEN'S EPEE - The big 75-fencer field included Adjemian finishing 3rd, Howard 13th, sophomore Karol Kostka 14th, Patrick Gettings 44th and fellow senior Jesse Laeuchli 58th ... ADJEMIAN - who was 3rd at the '03 PSU Open and 14th in '04 - entered the weekend as the #15 seed and moved up to 13th after a 4-1 first round that included a 5-1 win over NCAA veteran Mike Burkhart of UNC ... he stayed at 13th after the second round (2-2, with 5-4 win over PSU's Arthur Urman) and ultimately earned the #7 seed heading into the DE, thanks to a 4-1 third round that included a 5-1 loss to WSU's Petraszek ... Adjemian's final bouts were the 15-13 win over Howard, the 15-8 bout with OSU's Pryor, the 10-15 loss to WSU's Petraszek and the 15-13 win over PSU's Kraft (the #7 pre-tournament seed) in the 3rd-place bout ... Petraszek went on to win the final vs. Jason Henderson of Rutgers ... HOWARD (8th at the '04 PSU Open, 12th in '05) was seeded 10th but dropped to 20th after his 3-1 opening round (5-3 win over PSU's Kraft) and then improved to 12th with a 3-1 second pool (losing 5-2 to former OSU fencer Denis Tolkachev, now a student assistant with OSU) ... Howard's 3-2 final round included a 2-5 loss to Tolkachev, a 5-2 win over PSU's James Moody (#5 seed) and a 2-5 loss to RU's NCAA Tournament veteran Henderson (he then was seeded 10th in the DE and lost to Adjemian, 13-15) ... KOSTKA (4th at the '05 PSU Open) was seeded 15th before going 4-0 in his first pool bouts, moving up to a #5 seed ... he then dropped back to 19th after a 2-2 second round that included a 2-5 loss to PSU's Moody ... Kostka then took a #12 seed into the DE, after a 3-2 third round that included a 5-4 win over PSU's Kraft, but lost in the round-of-16 to Yale's Michaeel Pearce of Yale (10-15) ... GETTINGS (a quarterfinalist at the '03 PSU Open before placing 22nd in '04) was seeded 15th but was dropped into the consolation backet after a 2-3 first round (1-5 loss to WSU's Petraszek) ... as the #42 seed, he received a bye before posting wins over Cornell's Dimiry Duoskin (15-2), Yale's George London (15-13) and UNC's Ben Gillis (15-6) before ending with a 12-15 loss to OSU's Christian Rivera (a 2005 All-American) in the consolation semifinals ... LAEUCHLI was the #15 seed but dropped to 47th after a 2-3 opening round (4-5 loss to OSU's Tolkachev) ... he had a bye in the consolation bracket but lost the next bout, 12-15 vs. UNC's Gillis.
MEN'S FOIL - The 64-fencer field produced Kubik as the 3rd-place finisher, Jedrkowiak in 7th, sophomore Alexander Grigorenko in 16th, senior Frank Bontempo 35th and junior Diego Quinonez in 45th ... KUBIK, who made a big jump in his finish from the '05 PSU Open (20th) entered the weekend as the #4 seed and slipped to 6th despite going 5-0 in his first round (highlighted by a 5-3 win over Penn's Michael Galligan, who placed 9th at the '06 NCAAs) ... he then slipped to 12th after a 3-1 second round that included a 2-5 loss to Galligan before earning a #8 seed into the DE, thanks to his 4-1 final round (with a 5-4 win over OSU's Dmitri Kirk-Gordon) ... Kubik advanced to the semifinals with wins over Princeton's Alejandro Bras (15-6), #2 seed Itameri-Kinter of Harvard (15-10) but lost the 6-7 defensive battle to PSU's Chu Ming Chang ... OSU's Kirk-Gordon then beat Kubik in the 3rd-place bout (11-5) while former OSU fencer Boaz Ellis won the title (like Tolkachev, Ellis also is an OSU student assistant coach this year) ... JEDRKOWIAK - who beat Ellis in the previous two PSU Opens ('04 runner-up, '05 champion) - was one of 11 men's foilist who shared a pre-tournament seeding of 8th this weeekend ... his 5-0 first round pushed his seed to 5th and included a 5-3 win over former St. John's fencer Sam Wunderlich) ... Jedrkowiak dropped to 6th after a 3-1 second round that included a 4-5 loss to #5 seed Kevin Cho of Rutgers, a 3-5 loss to Princeton's Bras and a 5-1 win over 3rd-seeded Robert MacClaren of PSU ... he then entered the DE seeded 6th, after a 4-1 final round (2-5 loss to #1 seed Ron Berkowsky of Penn; 5-2 win over PSU's MacClaren) that preceded a round-of-16 win over Wunderlich (15-11) and a 7-15 quartefinal loss to Ellis ... GRIGORENKO was just a #36 initial seed before his impressive round-of-16 finish ... his 3-2 start included a 0-5 loss to Penn's Berkowsky (who placed 4th at the '06 NCAAs) and dropped his to a #31 seed before climbing all the way to 8th with a 3-1 second round (3-5 loss to #5 seed Alexander Louton of PSU) ... a tough final round (1-4) included losses to Harvard's Itameri-Kinter (0-5) and Princeton's Bras (3-5), followed by a 3-15 loss to Itameri-Kinter in the DE ... BONTEMPO (a quarterfinalist at the '03 PSU Open, plus 14th in '04 and 19th in '05) entered this year's event as a #8 seed before going 4-1 in the first round (with a 0-5 loss to Ellis) ... he then finished with a 1-3 second round that included a 0-5 loss to Penn's Berkowsky ... QUINONEZ (21st at '04 PSU Open, narrowly missed round-of-32 in '05) was the #54 seed and dropped into the consolation bracket after a 1-4 first round (0-5 vs. PSU's Ian Hanmilton) ... as the #45 seed, he beat Drew's Daniel Willard (15-9) before ending with an 8-15 loss to OSU's Daniel Bass.
MEN'S SABRE - The 53-fencer field produced three ND fencers in the top-12 (Ghattas 7th, Stearns 8th and freshman Bill Thanhouser 11th) ... GHATTAS (a semifinalist in the '04 and '05 PSU Openrs) entered the bouting as the #4 seed but dropped to 16th after a 3-1 first round ... he moved back to 9th after a 4-1 second round that included a 2-5 loss to OSU's Mike Momtselidze (the #5 seed) ... a 4-1 final round gave Ghattas a #9 seed for the DE, with those pool bouts including a 5-4 win over #9 seed Ian Farr of PSU (a fellow product of the Oregon Fencing Alliance) and a 4-5 loss to former OSU fencer and #2-seeded Adam Crompton (yet another who is back at OSU as a student coach) ... Ghattas opened the DE with a 15-10 win over UNC's Bobby Ziechmann (a '06 NCAA entrant) but lost by the same score to Crompton in the quarterfinals ... STEARNS (who placed 4th, 6th and 7th in the '03-'05 PSU Opens) had an initial seed of 13th and moved up one spot after his 4-1 opening round, with the lone loss coming to PSU's Franz Boghicev (the 6th-place finisher at the '06 NCAAs) ... Stearns improved to the 10th seed after another 4-1 round (5-4 wins over Boghicev and OSU's Jason Paul, the #9 seed) ... his 2-3 final round yielded a #13 seed for the DE and included bouts with #6 seed Daniel Bak of PSU (3-5), UNC's Ziechmann (1-5) and #7 seed Andrew Bielen of Penn (5-4) ... Stearns turned in a top win in the round-of-16, besting Rutgers standout Ben Igoe (7th at '06 NCAAs) by a 15-13 score before losing to PSU's Boghicev (6-15) ... THANHOUSER (round of 16 at '05 PSU Open) was the #8 seed and jumped to #3 with his 5-0 first round (5-2 over OSU's Paul) ... he dropped back to #12 after a 4-1 second round (0-5 vs. PSU's Bak) and took a #10 seed into the DE after going 3-2 in his final round, with a 3-5 loss to top-seeded Tim Hagamen of Harvard (4th at '06 NCAAs), a 5-3 win over OSU's Paul and a 4-5 loss to PSU's Boghicev ... Thanhouser's day ended in the round-of-16, with a 9-15 loss to OSU's Momtselidze.
|
|
 |
