Eighth-Ranked Temple Fencing Goes 5-1 on First Day of Northwestern Duals

Saturday, February 4

South Bend, Ind.

All Day

Temple University

Northwestern Duals

Malia Hee

Eighth-Ranked Temple Fencing Goes 5-1 on First Day of Northwestern Duals

2.4.17 | Women's Fencing

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Concluding with a thrilling, 14-13 win against North Carolina, the eighth-ranked Temple fencing team went 5-1 on the first day of the Northwestern Duals. The Owls, now 19-8 overall this season, lost only to #3 Notre Dame while earning a win against #4 Ohio State.

"All in all, it was a very good day for us," said head coach Dr. Nikki Franke. "We've continued to work on our consistency and we've seen improvement in every meet. We just have to continue to fence at a high level."

Temple scored over 20 points in its first three wins of the day, starting with a 24-3 victory over Incarnate Word. The Owls followed that up with a 22-5 win vs. Wayne State before beating #4 Ohio State, 21-6.

The fourth match against Stanford was a closer one, but the Owls ultimately won 15-12. That was the same score against #3 Notre Dame, but that time in favor of the opponent.

To close out day one, the Owls found themselves in the tightest match of the day. In all three weapons, Temple needed to win its last bout in order to get the win. In epee, sophomore Fiona Fong came through with a victory, followed by a win for senior Kristen Kemnitzer in foil. Freshman Malia Hee of the sabre squad left no doubt with a 5-0 win to clinch the match for the Owls.

"We actually had to win our last four bouts against UNC," said Franke, "which shows you how far behind we were. All of these girls really came through in the crunch and got the job done which was great to see."

Both the epee and sabre squads finished 5-1, while foil went 4-2. Sabre won 6-3 vs. #3 Notre Dame, while epee beat Stanford 5-4. Fourth-ranked Ohio State was without a foil squad due to an international competition, but both the epee and sabre squads also defeated the Buckeyes by a score of 6-3.

"I thought it was a really good squad effort today," said assistant coach Josh Herring, who coaches the sabre squad. "Everyone stepped up and stepped into the roles we needed them to in order to help out the team as a whole."

Hee finished as the top sabre fencer of the day for Temple with a record of 11-2. Fellow freshman Kerry Plunkett was also strong at 8-2 overall. Freshman Kennedy Lovelace led the foil squad with a record of 9-5. For epee, sophomore Quinn Duwelius was 9-1 overall. Junior Safa Ibrahim went 6-2 while both sophomore Ally Micek and senior Alexandra Keft went 6-3.

Tomorrow's slate has the Owls facing six more opponents, including #9 Northwestern to begin the day.

Northwestern Duals Results - Day One

Temple 24, Incarnate Word 3
Foil: 8-1
Epee: 8-1
Sabre: 8-1

Temple 22, Wayne State 5
Foil: 8-1
Epee: 9-0
Sabre: 5-4

Temple 21, Ohio State 6
Foil: 9-0
Epee: 6-3
Sabre: 6-3

Temple 15, Stanford 12
Foil: 6-3
Epee: 5-4
Sabre: 4-5

Notre Dame 15, Temple 12
Foil: 2-7
Epee: 4-5
Sabre: 6-3

Temple 14, North Carolina 13
Foil: 2-7
Epee: 6-3
Sabre: 6-3