The Novoseltseva Sisters are Better Together

During this holiday week, Temple Athletics will share stories of siblings playing for their respective Owl teams. This is the sixth of a six-part series.

Ask any Temple fencer, past or present, and she will tell you that her teammates are just like sisters. But what's special for the Novoseltsevas, is that they really are sisters. Siblings are nothing new to Temple fencing, with the program boasting a long tradition of having sisters on the roster, and Liza and Anna are the latest pair of sisters to represent the Cherry and White on the strip.

The sisters have been fencing for 13 years, starting when Liza was six and Anna was five, training together at the same club in Michigan and competing in the same tournaments. So when it came time for older sister Liza to start looking at colleges, she knew they needed to end up at the same place.

"We're super close, and not many people have that bond," Liza said. "So when I first came to Temple I knew that I had to convince Anna to come because I loved it here so much. I wanted us to go to the same school because we've been fencing together for our entire lives and it would be weird to compete against each other."

Luckily for the pair, Anna fell in love with Temple too.

"It feels like we're a little team, so there was no way that I could compete against her," Anna said. "I think we're better together than we are separate. I was looking at Temple when it was my turn to think about college so after hearing what Liza said of the team and coming here myself, I completely fell in love with it."

Liza's freshman year was hard for the pair, as it was the first time they had ever been apart. Anna was finishing her senior year back in Michigan, a 12 hour drive from Philadelphia.

"My freshman year was the first time we had ever been apart, so we would FaceTime just about every day," Liza said. "Being physically distant was hard but we always kept in touch."

But once Anna made it to North Broad, the sisters made up for lost time.

"We do basically everything together. We get lunch and we're always in each other's dorm rooms, and we're together when we train and on the weekends. We actually signed up for a class together next semester," Liza said, laughing.

And now that the pair is competing together again, they have a promising collegiate career ahead of them. The sisters have set the tone for their times as Owls early, with Liza finishing 13th at the NCAA Championships in her first season at Temple and Anna leading the foilists with a 13th-place finish at the Temple Open in her Cherry and White debut.

"When I'm on the strip and I look back, I love knowing that I have her by my side to cheer me on," Anna said.

Liza echoed Anna's sentiment, recalling one of her favorite memories of competing together.

"We were at a tournament and I was down 44-38," she said. "I looked behind me and Anna was screaming her head off cheering for me. It was so funny to see, and when I eventually won 45-44 it was amazing to have her there."

And once the girls are done with fencing and put their weapons down, their plan is to stay as close as they are now. They want to go to the same PA school back in Michigan, and maybe even room together for the first time. Anna's final season on Broad Street will be hard without Liza, but she knows she'll have her other sisters there to support her.

"It will be a little different when Liza graduates, but it's only one year so I don't think it will be too sad," she said. "I always have the support from the team, so that will definitely help. I'll be losing a little part of me, but I'll still have the team behind me."

The Novoseltseva sisters have two and a half years together in Cherry and White, and the future is bright for both of them.

Temple University Athletics

The Novoseltseva Sisters are Better Together

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