Madison, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's fencing team finished fourth overall at the MACFA Championships on Sunday.
The Ducks were paced by third-place finishes from both the epee and sabre squads, while also placing sixth in foil. Individually,
Spencer Depew took fifth in sabre and
Dev Badlani finished seventh in foil.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The sabre squad was led by a strong performance from Depew, who went 11-1 over 12 bouts. He out-touched his opponents 59-23 and finished tied for second overall with a +33 margin.
Ruilin Liu posted a +17 margin, recording 40 touches against 23 while going 7-2.
Gabriel Morales finished +8 with 48 touches while also earning seven victories.
Sean Haritonides rounded out the group, winning two bouts and scoring 13 touches.
Depew earned the top overall seed in the tableau but was knocked off 15-4 by No. 16 seed Zachary Swiers of Army. Liu entered the tableau as the No. 15 seed and was bested 15-5 by Noah Zeng of Johns Hopkins.
At epee,
Skanda Krishnan was the top performer, winning 10 of 13 bouts. He recorded a +22 touch margin, registering 60 touches while surrendering 38.
Riley Parker went 9-4 with 59 touches, while
Donovan Aggeler posted 10 wins over 12 bouts. Aggeler matched Krishnan with a +22 margin, totaling 53 touches while allowing 31.
Krishnan, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, was matched up with Nihal Bankulla of Columbia and was clipped 15-14 in a bout that saw Bankulla advance to the finals. Parker also reached the individual bracket, earning the No. 15 seed before falling 15-6 to No. 2 seed Jorge Gana of Johns Hopkins.
In foil, all three Stevens competitors finished with positive touch margins. Badlani recorded a +8,
Ricardo Pires finished at +18, and
Nick Reznick led the group with a +25. Reznick and Pires each tallied nine victories, with Reznick scoring 56 touches and Pires adding 53. Badlani notched seven wins, scoring 49 touches while surrendering 41.
Badlani, seeded eighth in the tableau, earned a 15-12 victory in his opening bout against Aaron Augustine of Columbia before falling in the quarterfinals with a 15-8 loss to Oliver Po of Haverford. Reznick earned the No. 15 seed and was ousted in the opening round by Josh Sima of Johns Hopkins, 15-10.
UP NEXT
The Ducks head to Haverford College on Saturday for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championships, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
