Feb. 9, 2006

The Notre Dame fencing team concludes the 2006 regular season this weekend with a rare west-coast trip, participating in the UC San Diego Duals on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the RIMAC Arena in LaJolla, Calif.

Notre Dame will have the bulk of its regulars back in action, with the exception of junior men’s epeeist Aaron Adjemian and freshman women’s foilist Adrienne Nott (she will be competing at a Junior World Cup in France).

The Irish will face a handful of fencers with NCAA Tournament experience while taking on Stanford (10:00 a.m.), Air Force (11:00), UCSD (noon), Cal State Fullerton (1:00), Cal Tech (2:00) and Army (3:00). It will mark the first-ever meetings for Notre Dame vs. Cal Tech and the first bouts between the ND and Army women’s fencing teams.

Top opponents in the weekend action include Stanford senior foilist and All-American Steve Gerberman (a member of the U.S. National Team program) and a pair of men’s epeeists from Air Force who have earned All-America honors: senior Tim French and junior Jason Stockdale. Others of note who have competed in past NCAA Tournaments include: Stanford senior epeeist Martin Lee and junior sabreist Curtis Andrus; Air Force sophomore epeeist Eliza Enyart; Cal State Fullerton senior foilists Senta Breden and Alexander Decker and junior sabreist Rachel Liebing; UCSD sabre fencers Bret Martin (senior) and Jason Runyan (sophomore); UCSD sophomore foilist Cameron Sprowles; UCSD sophomore epeeist Chelsea Ambort; and Cal Tech junior epeeist Katherine Harvard.

Sophomore sabre standout Mariel Zagunis enters the weekend with a 40-1 record (.976) that represents the best single-season win pct. in Notre Dame women’s sabre history and fifth-best ever by any ND women’s fencer. Her career record in regular-season bouts with the Irish now stands at 69-2 (.972), a pct. bested by just three previous ND fencers (men or women): sabreists Leszek Nowosielski (.980) and Mike Sullivan (.979) and foilist Maria Panyi (.980).

Junior Valerie Providenza has compiled a 39-8 season record in sabre (.830; 10th-best in ND history) and has pushed her career win total to 125-23, good for the second-most wins and second-best win pct. ever by an ND women’s sabre fencer. Her classmate Angela Vincent (118-29; .803) currently ranks 4th and 5th on the respective sabre wins and win pct. lists. Freshman Ashley Serrette (48-18) has racked up the 4th-most wins in a season ever by an ND women’s sabre fencer, just eight shy of Maggie Jordan’s record total.

The Irish women’s epee team is enjoying a strong season with a 171-45 record (.792) that represents a huge jump from 2004-05, when the ND women’s epeeists won 76% of their bouts. Fifth-year senior Becca Chimahusky (137-52) and junior Amy Orlando (116-35) rank 10th and 11th on the ND list for career women’s epee wins, with Orlando also standing 9th in career win pct. (.768). Sophomore foilist Melanie Bautista (92-22) enters the weekend eight wins shy of her 100th career regular-season victory.

On the men’s side, the foil (.694 to .724) and sabre (.750 to .798) squads have seen big jumps in their win percentages from a year ago while the Notre Dame men as a whole have won 78.0% of their bouts (up from 76.7% in ’05). Junior Patrick Ghattas (39-5) needs 11 wins at UCSD to crack the ND list for single-season sabre wins while also ranking 41st among all-time ND men’s fencers in total wins (119-16; 11 shy of the men’s sabre top-10) and 20th in career win pct. (.881; 11th among men’s sabreists). His classmate Matt Stearns needs one more win to become the 63rd all-time Notre Dame men’s fencer with 100-plus career wins.

Sophomore epee captain Greg Howard (35-6) is 10 wins shy of the ND top-10 for single-season men’s epee wins, with his classmate Jakub Jedrkowiak (35-12) also 10 wins shy of the foil top-10. Howard’s .835 career win pct. (71-14) would rank 6th-best ever by an ND men’s epeeist and 3rd-best since 1985. Junior foilist Frank Bontempo enters the weekend with 109 career wins, good for 52nd among all-time ND men’s fencers.