Crimson Swordsmen Slaughter SMU, Slice Up Outclassed Opposition, 16-11

The Crimson stabbed and outclassed a weak Southeastern Massachusetts University team, 16-11, Saturday at the IAB.

The only top-ranked Crimson fencers coach Branmir Zivkovic used against the weak SMU team were the fabulous freshman duo of foilsman David Merner and sabreman David Heyman.

Merner sliced by his opponents, 5-2 and 5-0, and once again showed incredible speed and technique. At one point, Merner staved off his SMU attacker by neatly stepping aside and darting his blade into his opponent's chest.

Movin' Out

"Merner's technique includes moves that these fencers have never seen," one of his teammates said.

Since losing his first two bouts against Army, the 17-year-old Canadian has won every one of his subsequent tests.

The other sensational frosh, David Heyman, appeared in one sabre bout and shredded his opponent with his swift, aggressive attacks.

Aside from these two varsity starters, the other fencers were mostly J.V. or number three and four varsity swordsmen.

Their inexperience showed as the Crimson got off to a slow start, losing the first round of the sabre competition, 2-1.

The Crimson countered with a 3-0 sweep of the foil event. Foilsmen Merner, Stan Samkange and Dave Greenberg looked anything but inexperienced as they speedily stabbed their SMU opponents.

Like Silk

Samkange looked especially smooth in his victory. He successfully parries and reposted into his adversaries' attacks.

In the epee event, Paul Eldrenkamp posted the only first-round victory, but frosh Martin O'Neil looked very impressive in a close loss.

The Crimson won the second sabre rounds, 2-1. Its confidence reinstilled, the team then rallied to 3-0 victories in the second rounds of both foil and epee competition. Kent Libbey fenced in O'Neil's position for the second round of epee. At the end of the second round, Harvard commanded a 13-5 lead, one victory away from a win.

It Took a While, But...

The inexperience of the sabre fencers showed as they dropped the third sabre round, 3-0. But Libbey finally tallied the winning bout with a strong epee battle.

Harvard went on to sweep that epee round, 3-0, but then floundered through the last foil round, losing, 3-0.

The Slice Plays Nice

Despite the relative ease of the win, Zivkovic said he was particularly pleased with the first victory of sophomore Bill Marhsall in his second epee bout. A jittery Marshall dropped his first bout but rallied in the second, using smooth, clean lunges to notch the victory.