PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (November 4, 2023) – First-year epeeist Grace Hicks finished eighth to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology women's fencing team Saturday at the inaugural Coach Nikki Franke Classic, hosted by No. 11 Temple University at the Liacouras Center.

First-year Sasha Craine and junior Arianna Daringa placed 16th, and 21st, respectively at sabre for the Ducks in the lone open tournament of the season. A total of 63 fencers competed at both foil and epee, while 61 competed at sabre. Each of the three weapons had slightly different tournament formats: for epee, the opening round featured 12 pods, nine with five and three with six, that led to the elimination of 13 fencers before the direct elimination portion of the event began; foil followed in similar suit, with eight pods of five and four pods of six competing in the opening round, before the direct elimination round began; sabre had the most challenging format, sponsoring two rounds of pool play (11 pods of five and one pod of six in the opening round to eliminate nearly 25% of the field and pools of five and six to seed the remaining fencers prior to the direct elimination round) before entering the elimination bracket. 

The annual event, which drew an estimated 500 fencers from over 30 schools, was previously known as the Temple Open for 42 years, but was renamed in October after Dr. Nikki Franke, who retired as head coach of Temple's women's program in August of 2022. Franke founded the program in 1972, turning the club team into a varsity sport and is the all-time winningest women's athletics coach at Temple. Franke amassed 898 wins, including the 1992 NCAA Championship, during her Hall of Fame career. 

The event is considered to be the largest of its kind in the nation and the Ducks returned to the prestigious tournament for the first time since 2019.

The Rundown

• Hicks was the Ducks' highest finisher of the day. The Yonkers, New York native won all four of her matches in pool play, including a 5-4 win over Duke's Chloe Beittel, while compiling a +8 margin in touches.
• Hicks then began to move through tournament play, defeating Haverford's Joselyne Malan, and Johns Hopkins' Anika Kale to reach the Table of 16. She then advanced to the quarterfinals after dispatching the top seed in the field, Temple's Margherita Calderaro, the defending NIWFA Individual Foil Champion. 
• Hicks' run was ended in the quarterfinals by Temple's Lindsey Minor, who eventually finished with a bronze medal. 
• Junior Renny Victoria and graduate student Claire McNeill joined Hicks in the championship bracket. Victoria fell to Johns Hopkins' Janie McSweeney in the opening round, while McNeill bested Rutgers' Arishita Gupta in the opening round before falling to Temple's Cindy Long. Additionally, first-year Zoya Duarte-Garcia, classmate Sofia Stoeckel and senior Victoria Beke also reached the direct elimination round. Stoeckel advanced to the second round with a victory over Beke before bowing out of the tournament. 

Top Performers

• Craine and Daringa were the Ducks' second-highest finishers. Craine went 2-2 in the opening pool play and finished +4 on touches. Daringa, meanwhile, finished second in her opening-round pool, going 4-1 with eight more touches than her opponents. Her lone setback was to the weapon's eventual silver medalist. Daringa continued her strong pool play in the second pod, going 3-1 and +7 in touches to end up the 16 seed in the pod and earn an opening-round bye. 
• Craine would go on to win a pair of matches in the direct elimination bracket, defeating Bryn Mawr's Lucia Hamman and third-seeded Arwen Gormley of Temple before falling to Temple's Zoe Turner in the Table of 16. Daringa, dropped her second-round match to Penn State's Mia Novick. Novick would reach the Table of 8. 
• Four Ducks reached the direct elimination round at sabre. Joining Craine and Daringa, were juniors Alyssa Ip and Jasmine Chen.
• At foil, sophomore Emily Zgombic was the Ducks' highest finisher, placing 33rd.
• Six Ducks reached the direct elimination round. Joining Zgombic were junior Elizabeth MacDonald, first-years Sharon Braun, Paris Sepulveda and Akemi Rodriguez, and junior Sofia Savchuk. 

For the Opponents

• Penn State's Jaclyn Khrol earned the gold medal at epee, while Duke's Christina Ferrari took the top spot at foil. UPenn's Leah Blum earned the gold medal at sabre to round out the individual champions.
• In terms of teams, Duke led all teams with four medals – one gold, two silver and one bronze, while UPenn was second with one gold, one silver and one bronze. Temple collected a pair of bronze medals, while Penn State (gold), Johns Hopkins (bronze) and Boston College (bronze), each had one medalist to round out the top-three finishes.

Coach's Comments

• "It was a great day of fencing! Having first-year Grace Hicks medal was quite an accomplishment. Her classmate, Sasha Craine, also had a great result, finishing in the top 16. There were many strong nationally-ranked Division I programs in the field, but we certainly held our own today and had a great team showing." – assistant coach Linda Vollkommer-Lynch

Up Next

• Stevens returns to the strips on Sunday, Nov. 12 for the annual Vassar College Invitational. Appropriate event links will be posted to StevensDucks.com once they are available.

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