The Brandeis women’s fencing team has participated in two meets so far in their 2018-19  season. Their first meet took place in Northampton, Massachusetts and occurred on Oct. 25. The Judges’ second meet was this past Saturday at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The next stop for the women is the Brandeis Invitational on Dec.2.

Fall Collegiate Invitational 

In the first match of the season, Joanne Carminucci ’19 defended her title at this season’s opening meet. In this meet, Carminucci earned her second straight championship and was awarded with UAA Fencer of the week award, in her career.

Women’s Foil

Carminucci acquired the fourth seed in the direct elimination tournament after being 5–0 with only four touches in the preliminary rounds. The Judges had one more foil medalist, Jessica Gets ’20, at third. The rest of the Judges followed with Renee Pite ’19 in seventh place, Hannah Mui ’22 in 11th place and Wendy Mao ’21 in 31st place. 

Women’s Saber

Saber fencer Jada Harrison ’22 placed third for the women. Devon Brown ’21 had a sixth-place finish, and Sara Gilbert ’21 followed with a 49th place finish.

Northeast Fencing Conference

This past Saturday, the Judges competed at the Northeastern Fencing Conference, where the women went 5–1.

Women’s Foil

In this match, Carminucci was 13–0 in foil. Gets went 13–1 in foil, giving the two a combined score of 26–1. Mao also competed in this meet and went 8–0 for the team.

Women’s Saber

In addition, in the saber division, Harrison as well as Brown each had individual winning records of four of six matches, with Harrison going 14–6 and Brown 13–7 in this meet. In the epee division, Dakota Levy ’20 went 11–10 in the meet.

In the first round of the meet, Brandeis earned a total score of 22, 17 points higher than competitor Smith College. Brandeis earned nine points from the foil division, four points from epee and nine points  from sabre. In the second round, Brandeis defeated their opponent, Boston University, with a score of 18 – 9. This round also resulted in a victory for the Judges over Sacred Heart University, with a score of 17–10. The rest of the meet continued with the Judges competing in a total of seven rounds against various other teams from a number of  universities.

In an interview with Carminucci, she explained that the team has “a lot of new fencers this year from all different backgrounds, and I'm very excited to see how their hard work pays off.” She elaborated that she has “been really impressed with the dedication and work everyone has put in so far, and it definitely showed at Smith College last month. Just being completely present and enthusiastic at practices breeds a strong work ethic and helps everyone grow as fencers, and that really comes through in competition.” Carminucci explained that the whole team is "all here to push ourselves as athletes and to work hard, and we're hoping that shows throughout the season. We'd love to see good results in our conference, where we've historically done very well."

The Judges have more meets this season through March when they will attend the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, including their next meet which at home. Before that, the Judges will be hosting the Brandeis Invtational on Dec, 2. The Judges will also be traveling to Colorado Springs to attend the Western invitational, followed by the Northeast Conference in Providence. With eight meets left in their season, the Judges have a long season ahead of them.