JOURNEYING THROUGH the second and third days of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Fencing Tournament, the Ateneo Fencing Team (AFeT) collected one silver and three bronze medals. The second and third days of the event were held at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila City.
The AFeT held lone glory on the second day of the event due to the efforts of National Team call-up Kaikaku Dela Serna, who bagged bronze in the Women’s Sabre Individual category. On the third day of competition, the Women’s Foil Team and the Men’s Sabre Team both brought home the bronze after impressive performances on the strip.
Day Two
Women’s Épée Individual
Kicking off the first category of the Blue Eagles’ second day were Lucia Montinola and Chesca Bernabe in the Women’s Épée Individual category. Both épée fencers displayed commendable efforts during the pools, as the tandem each snatched a win in four matches. Montinola clinched the eighth seed to advance to the Direct Eliminations (DE) stage with -5 IND while Bernabe was right outside the DE picture as the ninth seed with -7 IND.
With her first DE stage appearance in the UAAP scene, Montinola was eager to make her mark by potentially upsetting De La Salle University (DLSU)’s Cyrra Vergara. Montinola put up a challenge against her foe, but eventually succumbed to the eventual silver-medalist, 8-15.
Women’s Sabre Individual
Suiting up for the Women’s Sabre Individual Category were Dela Serna and Patricia Cablay. Dela Serna recorded a .500 record with two wins and two losses apiece during the pooling stages that secured her the sixth seed. On the other hand, Cablay bagged a win during the pooling stages to place her eighth on the tableau.
Facing the first-seeded Janna Catantan of UST, Cablay displayed a relentless fight against the formidable Golden Tigress. Nevertheless, Cablay conceded to the eventual gold placer, 3-15, knocking her out of medal contention.
As the Women’s Team’s hopes to collect a medal appeared to dwindle, Dela Serna would take glory late in her campaign, removing University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) fencer Jojerene Gonzales from the DE picture. The nip-and-tuck bout between the saber users resulted in a 15-13 finish, with Dela Serna on top.
Locking in a sure-podium finish for the Women’s Team, Dela Serna moved into the tournament’s second round and went up against the University of the East (UE)’s premier fencer, Queenie Dalmacio. Dela Serna gave Dalmacio a run for her money in the semis but was forced to settle for bronze after a loss to the Season 85 Most Valuable Player, 13-15.
Men’s Foil Individual
Rounding out the second day of the tournament was the Men’s Foil Individual category. Foil fencers Aiden Reyes and Seth Cucio represented the Blue and White in search of another medal for the Men’s Team.
Placed in a tough category loaded with immense talent, both fencers gave their best efforts to contend for a podium finish. Reyes sneaked in his single win during the pooling stages against UPD’s Keonn Davies, 5-4, while Cucio absorbed tight losses against DLSU’s Reindelle Lacerna and UST’s Joseph Amores at identical scores of 4-5.
Being at the bottom two spots of the category, Ateneo bid farewell to their last medal aspirations in the Single Category for Season 86.
Day Three
Women’s Foil Team
Kicking off the third day of the tournament, Blue Eagle Foil Fencers Thea Sebastian and Yelena Martinez finished fifth and sixth in the individual event respectively, giving Ateneo the third seed and a bye in the first round of the team competition. The bye privilege awarded them a guaranteed podium appearance and a semifinals berth against reigning champions UE.
Opening the semifinal battle for AFeT was Martinez, who went up against Queen Dalmacio in the first leg. Martinez, who previously beat the Lady Warrior in the Preliminary Pooling Stage of the Individual Event 5-2, could not carry that success in the opening bout, 1-5. In the second leg, the Blue Eagles found themselves trailing by a larger margin as Beatrice Ursolino bowed to Foil Individual silver medalist Eytria Olarte, 2-10.
With Ateneo scrambling for points, AFeT foil specialist Sebastian provided a much-needed boost for the Blue and White as she dispatched Andrea Matias in the third leg, 4-3. However, the Katipunan-based squad could not hold on to the momentum, as Dalmacio spoiled Juliana Ceña’s debut on the piste, 7-1.
Trailing 7-20 after four legs, individual competition call-ups Sebastian and Martinez pushed for a potential comeback in the latter half of the team matchup. Sebastian drew with Dalmacio in a 5-5 affair while Martinez squeaked out a 4-3 victory against Matias to provide a glimmer of hope for the Blue Eagles.
Despite their valiant efforts, the huge gap early on proved too much for Ateneo as Martinez yielded to UE star fencer Olarte in the final leg and ultimately bowed out of the team matchup, 21-45.
Men’s Sabre Team
Featuring two medalists in the Individual Sabre Event—Toby Cabrera and Andre Agatep, AFeT entered the Sabre Team competition as one of the favorites for gold. Banking on Cabrera and Agatep’s stellar performances in the individual competition, the duo, along with teammates Angelo Ramos and Raphael Jimenez II, earned the first seed and enjoyed a first-round bye on their way to an automatic semi-final spot.
With the matchups set, the Blue Eagles went up against DLSU, which beat UE in the first round, 45-40. Starting off the first leg strong was Agatep, sweeping John Gajon, to put Ateneo in the driver’s seat early on, 5-0. However, the Blue and White’s lead was quickly erased in the second leg as Christian Buenaventura’s 10-3 outburst against Ramos resulted in a sudden reversal of the team scores, 8-10.
Cabrera struck back for Ateneo after a series of momentum shifts, as the rookie sensation scored a crucial 7-4 victory over Green Archer Miguel Camero, bringing the lead back to the Blue Eagles, 15-14. The back-and-forth affair persisted until the penultimate leg, wherein Cabrera suffered a 1-5 loss against Gajon. Ateneo then found themselves suddenly trailing by five with only one leg to go, 35-40.
In a final attempt to salvage the victory, Agatep put up a strong effort against Buenaventura as he secured victory in the last leg, 7-5. However, the tight margin would cost them the Finals slot, clinching the bronze as they fell short to their Taft rivals by just three points, 42-45.
Men’s Épée Team
Having struggled in the Individual Épée Tournament, the AFeT slid down to fifth place in the team seedings as they failed to book an automatic semi-final seat unlike the Women’s Foil and Men’s Sabre teams. The quartet of Mico Florendo, Aidan Reyes, True Boo, and Magnus Sin needed to go through fourth-seeded UST in the quarterfinals to guarantee themselves at least a bronze medal.
In an attempt to keep up with UST, who were threatening to pull away after two legs, Boo produced a much-needed 7-5 victory against Keith Bernal to keep Ateneo within striking distance, 12-15. Reyes followed suit as the veteran fencer kept on par with UST’s Adam Maano, with the Katipunan-based squad trailing by four heading into the halfway mark of the match, 16-20.
Despite the spurt of hope in the previous legs, the Blue Eagles faltered in the following legs as they fell prey to their UST foes, 28-45. Consequently, the AFeT Men’s Épée missed out on winning a medal for both the individual and team competitions.
With the conclusion of the first three days of the UAAP Fencing Tournament, the Ateneo Men’s Fencing Team currently sits at fifth in the medal tally with a collection of one silver and two bronzes. Meanwhile, the Women’s Team is also in fifth place with two bronze medals in their haul.
The UAAP Season 86 Fencing Tournament will culminate tomorrow, March 17, at the same venue. The AFeT will compete in the Women’s Epee Team competition at 9:00 AM and in the Women’s Sabre and Men’s Foil Team events at 1:00 PM.
