DURHAM, N.C. – Duke fencing head coach Alex Beguinet announced Wednesday the 2016 fencing schedule. The spring slate features five regular season meets, including Duke's annual home meet and the ACC Fencing Championships, before qualifying Blue Devils compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional and the NCAA Fencing Championships.
The men's and women's Duke fencing teams kick off the 2016 season Jan. 16 at the Penn State Duals, then return to the state of Pennsylvania the following weekend for the Philadelphia Invitational Jan. 23-24, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. At last year's Philadelphia Invitational, the men went 4-1 as a team, while the women finished 4-2 overall.
Duke will cap the opening month of the season by traveling to Chicago for the Northwestern Duals Jan. 30, before returning to Durham to host the annual Duke Meet Feb. 6-7. Duke will welcome a challenging field to the home event, including ACC rivals Notre Dame and North Carolina, Penn State and Brandeis. Additionally, Johns Hopkins will field a men's team, while the women will battle with Temple. At the 2015 edition of the Duke Meet, sophomore Bobak Shadpoor debuted for the Blue Devils as a rookie at the home event last spring in spectacular fashion. Shadpoor led the Duke men to a 2-0 ledger over North Carolina and Johns Hopkins with an unblemished 6-0 mark in men's epee, garnering ACC Male Fencer of the Week status.
Following a weekend off for the Junior Olympic Fencing Championships, Duke will conclude the regular season at the ACC Fencing Championships Feb. 20-21, hosted by Notre Dame. In 2015, the first conference championship meet for the ACC since 1980, both the Duke men and women finished second behind Notre Dame in the team standings. Individually, sophomores Pascual Di Tella (men's saber), Dean Ischiropoulos (men's epee) and Jan Maceczek (men's foil) earned bronze medals in their respective individual competitions as freshmen, while sophomore Haley Fisher advanced to the medal round of the women's saber competition before finishing fourth as a rookie.
Next on the slate for Duke's qualifiers will be the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals March 5. Hosting last year's meet, eight Blue Devils placed in the top 10 in their respective weapons, highlighted by junior Christopher Monti taking third in men's saber and Jennifer Ling finishing fourth in women's saber.
The 2016 campaign culminates at the NCAA Fencing Championships March 17-20, hosted by Brandeis in Waltham, Mass. Six of Duke's seven 2015 national qualifiers return for the 2016 season, including Di Tella, Fisher, Ischiropoulos, Ling, Monti and senior epee Isabella Barna.
#GoDuke
