BALTIMORE (February 18, 2018) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's fencing team swept the eight-team Eastern Women's Fencing Conference to win the league title on Sunday, including a thrilling 14-13 victory over host Johns Hopkins University to cement the victory. Senior Abby Kaye and junior Amanda Choy also defended their EWFC Fencer of the Year titles won last season in foil and epee, respectively.
 
The Ducks are currently receiving votes in the NCAA national poll.
 
Stevens cruised to victory over Drew, Hunter, Yeshiva, CCNY, Haverford and Vassar, winning by a combined 142-20. The real drama came against the homestanding Blue Jays, and that was worth the price of admission.
 
In that matchup with JHU, sabre and foil suffered setbacks of 3-6 and 4-5, respectively. Michelle Drobish, Kaye and Allison Urban-Spillane all went 2-1 to keep the Ducks in the match.
 
Stevens made up the ground necessary to eke out the one-point victory and clinch the title with a dominant 7-2 victory at foil. Erin Hatcher and Choy both turned in perfect 3-0 performances and Julie McEldoon won an important bout to provide the difference.
 
"It's an honor to bring the title back to Stevens," said head coach Linda Vollkommer-Lynch. "The team fought hard in an extremely long day of fencing. We remain undefeated in Division 3. It was an honor to win coaching staff of the year and to also take the epee team title."
 
Vollkommer-Lynch was named the conference's Coach of the Year in a banner day for the program.
 
In team competition, Kaye led the way with 20 victories on the day. Hatcher, McEldoon and Choy all won 16 at epee, and Drobish kicked in 16 at sabre.
 
Julia Yang, Urban-Spillane (14), Karen Kong and Nicole Strezewski (13) all reached double figures as well.
 
Kong earned the 200th victory of her career to highlight the individual action for the Ducks.
 
Kellie Vertetis (epee) and Caitlin Uang (foil) went 5-1 for the Ducks during Sunday's action.
 
Individual Event
After the team title had been decided, the league's top fencers in each weapon competed in a tournament to decide the individual champions, where the Stevens epeeists nearly swept the podium.
 
In addition to the triumphs of Kaye and Choy, here is how the rest of the Ducks shook out:
 
Epee:
   1st Amanda Choy
   3rd Erin Hatcher
   4th Julie McEldoon
Foil:
    1st Abby Kaye
    5th Allison Urban-Spillane
    9th Nicole Strezewski
Sabre:
     5th Michelle Drobish
     6th Julia Yang
     9th Karen Kong
 
Up Next
The Ducks will travel to the FDU Invitational next weekend in Teaneck in the final tune-up before the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships.
 
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