From Brandeis University Athletics
The Brandeis Fencing teams headed to North Carolina for one of their toughest competitions of the season, the Duke Invitational. Against a field that included three top-10 opponents on both the men's and women's side, the Judges ended up with a winless weekend, going 0-5 on both sides.
On Sunday, the women were more competitive, with a few more squad wins. Overall, they fell to host Duke, 12-15; North Carolina, 10-17; #2 Notre Dame, 3-24; #9 Penn State, 9-18; and #10 Temple, 9-18.
The women's foil squad was the team's most successful of the weekend, posting 5-4 wins over both Duke and Penn State and dropping a narrow 4-5 match to Temple. Women's sabre also posted a 5-4 win over the Blue Devils, but the hosts won epee, 7-2, to pull out the match.
The top two fencers for Brandeis over the weekend came from that women's foil squad. Rookie Joanne Carminucci (Brewster, NY / North Salem) led the team with a 10-5 record, including an impressive 3-0 mark against Penn State, as well as against Duke. She also went 2-1 against North Carolina and matched Litle with wins over all five teams she faced. Senior Caroline Mattos (Providence, R.I./LaSalle Acad.) went 6-6, posting 2-1 records against Penn State, Temple and Duke.
Two other Brandeis fencers posted five wins for the women, with junior sabre fencer Ashley Jean (Norwood, Mass./Fontbonne Acad.) posting a winning record against Duke and senior Gwendolyn Mowell (Wyckoff, N.J. / Indian Hills) going 2-1 in epee against Penn State.