The Triton fencing team hosted Cal State Fullerton and Cal Tech in a tri-meet Nov. 16, with the UCSD women’s team defeating both teams and the Triton men splitting their matches, beating Cal Tech and losing to CSU Fullerton.
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In spite of competing with a very young team, UCSD performed strongly, especially against Division I CSU Fullerton.
Triton head coach Stuart Lee was pleased with the tournament.
“”We have a very young team this year,”” Lee said. “”We lost a third of our team to graduation and another third to the study abroad program, there are only five returners this year, but we’re building a strong base for the future.””
As a team, the Triton women dominated the tournament, defeating both the CSU Fullerton Titans and the Cal Tech Beavers. The women were victorious in all three weapons — epee, foil and sabre-against Cal Tech. The Beavers looked incredibly undermatched against the superior Tritons, which could perhaps be attributed to their Division II standing.
The CSU Fullerton Titans, however, proved a tougher opponent and were able to defeat the Triton women in the foil competition with a score of 5-4. However, UCSD’s victories in sabre and epee, besting both matches with a score of 5-4, gave them an overall one-point lead against CSU Fullerton, and thus the win.
UCSD’s men’s team exhibited similar mastery over Cal Tech, but was unable to come up with a win against CSU Fullerton. The men won in sabre with an impressive score of 7-2, but the Tritons lost in foil with a disappointing score of 0-9 and were unable to come out on top in epee, losing by a score of 2-7, giving the Titan’s the overall victory.
CSU Fullerton defeated Cal Tech in both the women’s and the men’s competitions to further exhibit its mastery of the foil.
“”Fullerton is a national powerhouse in foil competition,”” Lee said. “”However, we are nationally competitive in the use of the sabre, so we knew coming in that the epee would be the deciding factor against Fullerton. Our women were able to defeat them, but the men were not as successful.””
Individually, UCSD’s Raelyn Jacobson and Jeremy Runyan went undefeated on the day, both competing in the sabre division and showing much of the talent that allows the Tritons to contend on the national level in the use of the sabre.
Jacobson, who was an National Collegiate Athletic Association All-American in epee last year, has switched to sabre this year, and it’s already clear that it has been a near flawless transition, highlighting the talent she possesses as a fencer.
Looking ahead, UCSD will host its first NCAA tournament of the year on Jan. 15 with New York University, Columbia University and Cal State Fullerton competing. All these schools are Division I champions, and this tournament should serve as a proving ground for the young Triton fencers looking to regain the national level of play they possessed last year.
