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2016 Campaign Begins for Duke with Penn State Duals
1/15/2016 11:09:00 AM | Fencing
DURHAM, N.C. – Fresh off a 2015 season that included a program-best seven NCAA qualifiers and concluded with a ninth-place team finish at the NCAA Fencing Championships, the Duke men's and women's fencing teams will look to improve upon their successes from a season ago, beginning with the Penn State Duals Saturday, Jan. 16, starting at 8:30 a.m. Both the men's and women's teams will match up against host-team Penn State, Yale, Haverford, Penn, North Carolina and Columbia, while the women will also compete against Temple.
“I think everybody is excited to go,” head coach Alex Beguinet said. “We have five or six freshmen going, so they are very excited and nervous at the same time. It will be a good warmup for them to jump into competition right away … This weekend will give us a good view of what they're capable of against good teams. This week will be a learning experience for them.”
Along with the freshmen, Duke boasts a wealth of returning experience as six of the seven NCAA qualifiers will be back in Duke uniforms in 2016. Headlining the returners on the men's side is sophomore saber Pascual Di Tella, who finished fifth at the national meet to secure All-America status, and junior saber Christopher Monti, an NCAA qualifier each of his first two seasons in Durham with a career regular-season record of 110-29 at Duke. Sophomore epeeist Dean Ischiropoulos also earned a bid to last year's national meet as a rookie, taking 18th in the epee competition after pacing the Blue Devils' men's epee squad with a 37-26 ledger.
The Duke women's team also features three returning NCAA qualifiers for the 2016 season, including senior epeeist Isabella Barna and the sophomore saber duo of Haley Fisher and Jennifer Ling. Heading into her final collegiate campaign, Barna will look to make consecutive trips to the national tournament after posting a 30-18 record during the 2015 regular season and finishing fifth at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional. The pair of Fisher and Ling, who combined for a 97-28 ledger during their freshman years, will assist Barna in providing quality leadership to a relatively young women's squad.
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