HAVERFORD, Pa. — The Wagner fencing teams wrapped up their trip to the NCAA Regionals on Saturday by sending four fencers to the semifinals.
From the women's team, junior sabrst
Villo Nyiri, senior sabrist
Fanny Straub and freshman epeeist
Ana Margarita Paredes each reached the semifinal rounds of their respective weapons. Meanwhile, junior sabrist
Flavio Vinci was the only men's fencer from Wagner to advance to the semifinals.
In the women's sabre competition, Nyiri split her six bouts in the first round, finishing 3-3 and conceding only two points in her wins. She advanced with a total point differential of +3, beating out three other sabrists with 3-3 records. In the next round, Nyiri was one of two fencers to win all of her bouts, cruising into the semifinals. Her day ended in the semis, as she dropped all but one of her bouts in that round, finishing 15th out of 46 total sabrists.
In the women's epee competition, Paredes earned a top-12 ranking and automatically advanced to the second round. In that round, she won two of her five bouts and advanced to the semifinals thanks to her +3 point differential. However, Paredes could not find a win in the semifinals, as she finished 17th among 46 epeeists.
Straub had the best finish of the three women's semifinalists, winning five straight bouts in the first round after losing her first. She only won her last two bouts out of five in the second round, but her point differential pushed her into the semifinals. In the semifinals, Straub took three of five bouts and advanced to the final round. The Nuremburg native won three of her final 10 bouts to place 11th among all women sabrists. Her finish became the highest final placement for a women's fencer in Wagner's history.
On the men's side, Vinci automatically advanced to the second round thanks to his no. 2 ranking in men's sabre. In the second round, Vinci won all five of his bouts and easily advanced to the semifinals. His day ended there however, as he won only two of his five bouts in the semifinals, and missed the finals round by three points. He would finish 13th out of 39 in the final standings.
The NC Fencing Championship selections will be made on Tuesday, March 10. The women's championships will take place from Thursday March 19 to Friday, March 20, while the men's championships will take place from Saturday, March 21 to Sunday, March 22.
