THE ATENEO Fencing Team secured two podium finishes in both the Men’s Foil Team and the Women’s Sabre Team events in Season 85 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Men’s and Women’s Fencing Tournaments. The matches were held earlier today at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Adding to their bag of medals in the four-day tournament, the Men’s Fencing Team managed to snag a third silver medal in the finals round. Meanwhile, the Women’s Fencing Team ended their medal drought with a bronze after their semifinals match.
Women’s Epee Team
The Ateneo Women’s Fencing Team (AWFT) began the last day of UAAP Season 85 with a devastating loss against the home-court team UST Lady Fencers in the quarterfinals.
The Blue Eagles started off slow, allowing UST to take a 0-5 run in the first period. Although they started gaining momentum towards the second period, the España-based troupe remained consistent to overpower the Blue Eagles and extend the lead up to eighteen points in the eighth, 40-22.
Despite having two scoreless periods out of nine, the AWFT showcased their willpower in the last period as they scored five more points before ultimately conceding the match, 27-45.
Women’s Sabre Team
With both teams having an automatic pass to the tournament’s semifinals round, the Blue Eagles and the Lady Fencers stepped on the piste in pursuit of a finals slot. The Blue and White fell under the wielding hands of the opponents early on in the match, with the score deficit reaching its peak in the fourth period, 7-20.
Ateneo’s Kaku Dela Serna tied the game in the fifth period with a masterful flick of her sword and a big leap towards her foe, 24-24. However, the Blue and White failed to capitalize on the momentum, allowing the UST Lady Fencers to once again pull away with a double-digit lead from the seventh period until the ninth, 34-45. Despite this loss, the Women’s Sabre Team still landed their first and only podium finish of the season with a bronze medal.
Men’s Foil Team
In the semifinals against De La Salle University, the Blue Eagles steadily built upward momentum, extending their lead to eleven points in the fourth period, 20-9. Despite a solid cushion, the fencers from Taft closed the score deficit beginning in the sixth period, 30-22, even shrinking the Blue Eagles’ lead to three in the seventh, 33-30. However, Ateneo answered back with a twelve-point outburst in the last three periods, 45-38, and shoved the opponents out of their way to face the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors.
Going against the 15-time champions, the Men’s Foil Team stepped on the piste hungry for the gold. However, the Blue Eagles struggled to establish a strong footing early on in the match as they were unable to answer UE’s aggressive attacks, 5-10. From the fourth period until the sixth, Ateneo’s Aidan Reyes and Jaime Viceo led the pack, as they showed no mercy in giving the team a scoring outburst, 22-29. Despite their solid lead, the Blue and White eventually bowed out to the Red Warriors after UE rallied their troops to end the match at 34-45.
After four grueling days on the piste, the Ateneo Fencing Team made the Ateneo community proud after bagging a total of six medals, with the Men’s Fencing Team collecting three silver and two bronze medals. Meanwhile, the Women’s Fencing Team persevered towards the last day of the tournament and racked up their first medal of the season with a bronze.
In the overall ranking, the Men’s Fencing Team placed third out of five participating universities, while the Women’s Fencing Team ranked last out of five contending teams.
