Bulldogs Win All Five Bouts At Philadelphia Invitational

Beat Notre Dame, Temple, Wayne State, NYU, Drew

Emme Zhou

The Yale women's fencing team swept all the competition at the Philadelphia Invitational hosted by Penn on Sunday.

In the first round, the Bulldogs competed against Notre Dame, winning 15-12, an exact reversal of the score earned the last time the two teams faced off at the beginning of the season. The foil squad starting Emme Zhou, Anna Zhou and Camille Pham finished with a 5-4 win. Epee squad, starting Shirley Wang, Joy Ma and Michelle Nam won 7-2. Emme Zhou and Wang went undefeated against each of their three opponents.

After a bye in the second round, the third round kicked off against Temple. The Bulldogs widened their margin of victory from 14-13 last week to 16-11 on Sunday. The foil squad's starting lineup won 7-2; the squad swept all three bouts of the middle round, and Emme Zhou again went undefeated in all three of her bouts. Epee squad, combining the efforts of Joy Ma, Linda Liu, Wang, Rakel Tanibajeva, and Nam pulled through with a 5-4 victory; Liu went undefeated. The saber squad, again starting Sydney Hirsch, Lauren Kim and Sophia Zhuang lost with a tight 4-5 score; notably, Hirsch went undefeated in all three of her bouts.

After the lunch break, the first round saw the Bulldogs facing Wayne State. The team pulled off a perfect 27-0 victory, with all three squads winning 9-0. Foil and epee squads took the opportunity to switch out lineups and make substitutions. The entire foil squad fenced Wayne State, with Zhou, Zhou, Jenny Zhao, Grace Baghdadi, and Julia Balch all contributing victories for the total squad tally. Ma, Tanibajeva, Nam, and Jacqueline Hayre-Pérez fenced the Wayne State epee lineup, which was short a fencer. Yale's three-woman strong saber squad fenced the same lineup; Zhuang, Hirsch and Kim earned +12, +13 and +11 indicators respectively.

After another bye, the sixth round saw the Bulldogs emerge with a 24-3 victory over NYU. The foil squad starters won the first seven bouts in a row, finishing 7-2. The epee squad finished 8-1, with Nam, Liu and Tanibajeva starting and Hayre-Pérez substituting in to earn the final victory; Liu went undefeated again, finishing with an impressive +11 indicator. The saber squad again won 9-0, with similarly impressive indicators; Zhuang, Hirsch and Kim earned +10, +11 and +8 indicators respectively.

In the seventh and final round for the Bulldogs, the team finished with another decisive win against Drew. The foil and epee squads both won 7-2 and the saber squad pulled off a third 9-0 finish for an overall team score of 23-4. The foil squad started Anna Zhou, Zhao and Pham, and later substituted in Baghdadi and Balch. Epee squad started Tanibajeva, Wang and Liu, substituting in Hayre-Pérez; notably, Wang went undefeated for the second time that day. The saber squad starters, having fenced every school without any substitutions, again pulled off a perfect finish, with +12, +11 and +10 indicators for Zhuang, Hirsch and Kim respectively.

With the competition came a variety of highlights for individuals, squads and the team overall. Captain Anna Zhou says, "I'm so proud of my team this weekend! We came in hungry and fought hard. We beat Notre Dame for the first time in history, which really just confirms my endless amount of faith in this team! Special shout-out to Emme for going undefeated. I'm looking forward to the rest of this season, especially Ivies!"

Individually, first-year Emme Zhou won each and every one of her bouts throughout the entire day in the starting foil lineup. Epeeists Liu, Wang and Hayre-Pérez lost only a single bout: Liu won 8 of her 9 bouts, Wang won 6 of her 7 bouts, and Hayre-Pérez won 4 of her 5 bouts. Saberist Hirsch, impressively, won 14 of a total 15 bouts fenced.

The epee and foil squads won against all five schools, and the saber squad went undefeated against three back-to-back schools. Saber squad captain Kim says, "as a whole, the team went undefeated and fenced super well today. Looking specifically at saber squad, Syd went 14-1 today, only losing one bout to Notre Dame! Sabre went 9-0 against every school this afternoon and worked super hard without any opportunity for subs!"

The team overall went undefeated against all five schools, a thrilling victory after a long day.

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Players Mentioned

Grace Baghdadi: Foil; Sophomore

Lauren Kim: Saber; Junior

Joy Ma: Epee; Sophomore

Michelle Nam: Epee; Senior

Camille Pham: Foil; Junior

Shirley Wang: Epee; Sophomore

Anna Zhou: Foil; Senior

Jenny Zhao: Foil; Senior

Emme Zhou: Foil; First Year

Julia Balch: Foil; First Year

Sophia Zhuang: Saber; First Year

Sydney Hirsch: Saber; First Year

Players Mentioned

Grace Baghdadi
: Sophomore
: Foil

Lauren Kim
: Junior
: Saber

Joy Ma
: Sophomore
: Epee

Michelle Nam
: Senior
: Epee

Camille Pham
: Junior
: Foil

Shirley Wang
: Sophomore
: Epee

Anna Zhou
: Senior
: Foil

Jenny Zhao
: Senior
: Foil

Emme Zhou
: First Year
: Foil

Julia Balch
: First Year
: Foil

Sophia Zhuang
: First Year
: Saber

Sydney Hirsch
: First Year
: Saber