Fencing Goes 3-2 Against Strong Lineup at Penn State Invitational

Sunday, January 13

State College, Pa.

All Day

Temple University

Penn State, Columbia, Yale, Duke, Haverford

Photo by: Nguyen Ho

Fencing Goes 3-2 Against Strong Lineup at Penn State Invitational

1.13.19 | Women's Fencing

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Every other match went Temple's way at the Penn State Invitational as the Owls (6-3) finished 3-2 for the day with wins over Haverford, Yale and Duke.

Meet Summary
> The first match of the day saw Temple dominate against Haverford, winning 25-2 with the sabre squad going undefeated at 9-0.
> Columbia and host Penn State both got the best of the Owls by scores of 19-8. The foil squad was able to edge the Nittany Lions in that match by a score of 5-4.
> Temple's win over Yale was the tightest of the day, but the Owls pulled it out 14-13 thanks in large part to a 7-2 performance by the sabre squad. The final point for the Owls was earned in foil in the last bout on the last touch.
> To end the day, the Owls broke a 12-12 tie with Duke and won 15-12 with foil winning 6-3 and sabre winning 5-4.

Individual Highlights
> Freshman Aryana Abtin turned in a strong performance for the foil squad, going 3-0 against Duke and 2-1 vs. Columbia. She finished 9-4 overall to lead the Owls.
> For sabre, junior Malia Hee went 2-1 against Penn State as well as 2-1 against Duke and finished 6-5 overall, with junior Kerry Plunkett also going 2-1 vs. Duke.
> The epee squad got a 2-1 mark from both senior Ally Micek (6-5 overall) and sophomore Marielle Luke against Duke, while senior Auset Muhammad and junior Kennedy Lovelace were both 2-1 for the foil squad against Duke.
> Senior Jessica Rockford posted a 3-0 mark vs. Haverford for sabre and had a strong day overall with a perfect record of 5-0.
> Senior Blessing Olaode (5-4 overall) was 2-0 vs. Yale for the sabre squad, while Eva Hinds was 2-1 in the same match for sabre.

Quotable
> "We competed in very tough matches all day. We're just trying to find that consistency in what we're doing but I'm very pleased with the effort and the focus today. They worked hard and never gave up in any match. We faced three teams ranked in the Top 10 at the end of last season (beating Duke) so we had to stay up and stay mentally strong all day." - Head Coach Dr. Nikki Franke

> "Jess (Rockford) was tied 4-4 in our match against Duke and stepped up and won the bout to give sabre a 5-4 win. She contributed to the team's overall win in that match and did a great job. - Assistant Coach/Sabre Coach Josh Herring

> "Today was definitely challenging and we faced multiple Top 10 teams. Every match was hard-fought. All the squads stuck together and fought throughout the day, but we definitely saw some things we need to work on. Next week (at the Philadelphia Invitational) won't get any easier so we have our work cut out for us." - Assistant Coach/Sabre Coach Josh Herring

Up Next
> Temple will compete at the Philadelphia Invitational on Sunday, Jan. 20, taking on a very tough lineup of Penn, Northwestern, UNC, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Team Results
Temple 25, Haverford 2
Epee 8-1
Foil 8-1
Sabre 9-0

Columbia 19, Temple 8
Epee 2-7
Foil 4-5
Sabre 2-7

Temple 14, Yale 13
Epee 4-5
Foil 3-6
Sabre 7-2

Penn State 19, Temple 8
Epee 1-8
Foil 5-4
Sabre 2-7

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