BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Oct. 24, 2021) – After a 596-day hiatus from NCAA competition on the strips, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's fencing team kicked off its 2021-22 season with a bang as they earned four victories on the day at the LIU Sharktank Invitational.

Starting the season at an event other than the Temple Open for the first time since at least 2002, the Ducks defeated Drew University, Wellesley College, Wagner College and Yeshiva University after falling to both New Jersey Institute of Technology and Long Island University to post a 4-2 record in the event.

The sabre squad led the way on the day for the Ducks with a 32-22 overall record while epee finished 30-24 and foil went 26-28.

Individually, Stevens was led by senior Kiera Barnes who finished the day with an impressive 15-3 record at sabre. Barnes is now just five victories away from becoming the sixth sabre student-athlete in program history to reach 200 career wins, doing so in less than three competitive seasons.

Junior Claire McNeill had the most victories at epee with 12 while Kayleigh Kubit led the foil squad with eight.

vs. NJIT (Loss 18-9)

• The Ducks dropped an 8-1 decision at epee with McNeill grabbing the only victory in the weapon.
• Stevens was able to edge NJIT 5-4 at foil thanks in large part to a pair of wins apiece from both Kubit and Sara Persau as well as a victory by Ashley McDermott.
• At sabre Kiera Barnes, Alana Schmitt and Bayla Gellerstein all earned one victory apiece against the Highlanders as the Ducks fell 6-3.

vs. LIU (Loss 18-9)

• McNeill produced a pair of wins while Capra and Keira Mizzi had one win each as epee narrowly dropped a 5-4 decision.
• The foil squad got one win each from Persau and Kubit as they fell 7-2.
• Sabre dropped a 6-3 decision after getting two victories from Barnes and another by Daringa.

vs. Drew (Win 17-10)

• McNeill was perfect against the Rangers with a 3-0 record, Leigha Capra had two victories and Mizzi had another to send epee to a 6-3 win.
• At foil, the Ducks suffered a narrow 5-4 defeat but got two wins from Kubit and one each by McDermott and Persau.
• Barnes went 3-0, Schmitt finished 2-0 and Gellerstein and Gabriela Onelli produced one win apiece to send sabre to a 7-2 win.

vs. Wellesley (Win 14-13)

• The epee squad started things out with a narrow 5-4 victory thanks to a pair of wins by McNeill and Mizzi as well as another by Christine Chan.
• The Ducks fell 8-1 at foil as Persau was the lone Stevens fencer to pick up a victory in the weapon.
• The sabre squad was able to pick up the slack, however, earning an 8-1 win of their own after Daringa and Barnes both went 3-0 and Alana Schmitt had two more.

vs. Wagner (Win 14-13)

• McNeill produced a pair of wins while Mizzi and Capra added one apiece as the epee squad narrowly dropped a 5-4 decision.
• Kubit was fantastic for the Ducks against Wagner with a perfect 3-0 record while McDermott added two more wins to give the foil squad a 5-4 win.
• The sabre squad produced the exact same 5-4 victory to send the Ducks to a narrow one-point win. Barnes also was perfect against the Seahawks as she earned three big wins while Daringa and Schmitt added one victory apiece.

vs. Yeshiva (Win 26-1)

• The Ducks got victories from five different student-athletes at epee with two apiece from McNeill, Capra and Victoria Beke and one each from Megha Jain and Mizzi to win 8-1.
• The foil squad posted a perfect 9-0 record thanks to three wins from Ashley Yu, two victories by Brianna Ellis and single wins by Elizabeth Macdonald, Alyssa Ip, Annabelle Crescenzo and Zoe Casten.
• Sabre also went 9-0 after perfect 3-0 records for Barnes and Onelli as well two wins from Gellerstein and another from Jia Chen.

Next Up

• Stevens returns to the strips on Halloween, Oct. 31, in the Ranger Fall Invitational – Part I hosted by Drew University.

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