THE ATENEO Fencing Teams (AFeT) kickstarted their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 campaign with three quarterfinal appearances on day one. The tournament’s opening day was held earlier today, March 13, at the Makati Coliseum in the City of Makati.
Today’s opening bouts featured the debut of a new pool system for all events, wherein round-robin pools decided the finalists for the direct elimination (DE) tableau.
Women’s Foil Individual – Pools
Yelena Martinez and Patricia Jeanine Cablay represented Ateneo in Pools 1 and 2, respectively, of the Women’s Foil Individual event.
Martinez got off to a roaring start in Pool 1 against the University of the East (UE)’s Queen Dalmacio, with the experienced fencer taking a heartstopping 5-4 victory.
However, she fell short of advancing to the DEs after absorbing tight defeats to Mariel Flores of the University of the Philippines (UP), 3-5, and Lady Bathan of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), 2-5. Martinez also succumbed to a shoutout versus Fiona Sigua of De La Salle University (DLSU), 0-5.
Meanwhile, fellow veteran Cablay saw identical 0-5 losses in the rest of her assignments, despite scoring a touch against UP’s Marina Carbonell in her second bout, 1-5.
Men’s Sabre Individual – Pools
Continuing the morning’s festivities, UAAP Season 87 bronze medalists Andre Agatep and junior Toby Cabrera repped the Blue and White in the Men’s Sabre Individual event.
Cabrera began in Pool 1 with a thrilling victory over DLSU’s Christian Buenaventura, managing to edge his opponent by a tight margin, 5-4. The Ateneo junior continued his momentum into his second and third matches, triumphing against Ricardo Fuenzalida of UST, 5-3, and Karl Galias of UP, 5-2. However, Cabrera’s hot streak came to a screeching halt, failing to overcome undefeated fencer Christian Concepcion of UE in a heated contest, 4-5.
Team Captain Agatep found similar success to his teammate, picking up a quick win against Larco Cortez of UST, 3-5. Despite falling to UE’s Khiane Felipe, 2-5, the Ateneo ace picked up victories in back-to-back assignments against UP’s Jonathan Ramos, 5-4, and DLSU’s Kurt Maruquez, 5-2.
Following outstanding records in their pool stage contests, the Katipunan-based duo of Cabrera and Agatep were in the DEs as the third and fourth seeds, respectively.
Men’s Sabre Individual – Direct Elimination
Right after the pools, Agatep took on the fifth-seeded DLSU’s Maruquez, who he had previously beaten earlier, for his round of eight bout. The Blue Eagle started off on the heels of the Green Fencer, entering the match at a 2-6 disadvantage. In spite of this, the experienced Agatep went on a tear, scoring four-straight touches to even the slate, 6-6. The deadlock continued with both sabreurs taking a touch each, 7-7.
However, momentum quickly shifted away from Agatep, with the Blue Eagle sabreur returning to a four-touch deficit, 8-12. An undeterred Agatep continued to keep in step, cutting the margin to only two, 11-13, even with his Taft-based foe inching closer to the needed 15 touches. Despite a spirited comeback, the Ateneo skipper ultimately fell to the eventual champion, 12-15.
In the three-versus-six matchup, Cabrera faced DLSU’s Buenaventura in their second battle of the day. The Atenean fencer struggled out of the gates, surrendering a handful of touches that kept him behind, 1-6. Cabrera composed himself by picking up his offensive rhythm that cut the margin to three, 4-7.
The two fencers would trade blows in the succeeding minutes, with Cabrera unable to crack the lead any further, 6-12. Undeterred, the Katipunan-based sabreur conducted a masterful 3-0 spurt that kept the battle close, 9-12. Another battle of touches commenced with Cabrera failing to cut the gap any closer, 11-14. Despite a heated conflict, Cabrera’s parries broke down to end Ateneo’s chances in the Men’s Sabre event, 11-15.
Men’s Épée Individual – Pools
In the last contest of the opener, Ateneo rookie Zeb Largo and veteran Jotham Thai stepped up to the piste in the Men’s Épée Individual event.
Eager to make his debut on the strip, Largo engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Tiger Fencer Keith Bernal before ultimately losing steam on offense, 3-5. The Blue and White rookie would then face hardships in back-to-back contests against UE’s Shawn Felipe and DLSU’s Ken Panes, surrendering both assignments 1-5. Even with Largo putting up a strong performance on offense opposite UP’s Dexter Ramos, his efforts would fall short, 2-5.
Elsewhere, Thai opened his Épée Individual tournament with a commanding victory over Green Fencer Edam Ensamatan, 5-3. However, the Atenean veteran struggled to maintain offensive rhythm over the next two contests, as he fell to UP’s Calix Ho and UE’s Ramil Encelan, 1-5 and 4-5, respectively.
In an elimination round decider, Thai faced off against UST’s Adam Putian. Suffering from an early 1-3 deficit, the Blue and White fencer pulled off three unanswered touches to keep his playoff chances alive, 4-3. With Thai vying for a spot in the elimination round, both fencers clashed, which awarded each of them a touch, but gave the Blue Eagles the victory, 5-4.
The result sent Thai to the Direct Elimination round as the seventh seed.
Men’s Épée Individual — Direct Elimination
Representing the Blue Eagles as the lone competitor in the DEs, Thai took on Fighting Maroon Ho in a rematch from the previous qualifiers. The Blue and White veteran looked to reignite his engine after falling to an early 1-4 deficit. Multiple battles and a few close calls eventually allowed Thai to cut the lead to two, 5-7. However, his adversary would take advantage of the Atenean fencer’s fatigue, ballooning the gap to five, 6-11.
Thai slowly regained his wits towards the latter half of the contest by leaning on his defensive footwork, tightening the gap to 9-13. With Ho sitting carefully with the lead, minute mistakes led to Thai surrendering the last two touches and the match, 10-15.
Having gotten a feel for the competition, Thai highlighted the need to apply learnings from their individual bouts in preparation for the team matchups this weekend.
“I guess we got to see naman how the top two played, so we’ll just keep that in mind [when] we play for the [team event],” the veteran épéiste shared.
With an eventful season opener in the books, the AFeT will be looking to collect their first medals of the tournament tomorrow, March 14, at 9:00 AM in the same venue.
Men’s Medal Tally (Gold-Silver-Bronze):
- DLSU Green Fencers (1-1-1)
- UP Fighting Maroons (1-0-1)
- UE Red Warriors (0-2-0)
- UST Tiger Fencers (0-0-1)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-0-0)
Women’s Medal Tally (Gold-Silver-Bronze):
- UP Fighting Maroons (1-1-0)
- UE Lady Warriors (0-0-2)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-0-0)
- DLSU Lady Fencers (0-0-0)
- UST Lady Fencers (0-0-0)
