Sports Brief: Harvard Women’s Fencing Team Overpowers Tufts

After garnering two gold medals in its first competition at the Garrett Open hosted by Penn State two weeks ago, the women’s fencing team took on Tufts in a duel bout last night. The Crimson emerged victorious by a 20-7 advantage, despite having junior co-captain and defending national champion Caroline Vloka and All-American Noam Mills sidelined for the match.

In the opening bout against Penn State, Vloka took the gold medal in the sabre, showing a promising start for another national title run. Freshman Alexandra Kiefer, who also won a gold medal in the foil against the Nittany Lions, had a strong performance again last night, leading the weapon group to a 9-0 win. Kiefer allowed only one touch scored against her even though the bout was only her second as a collegiate athlete.

“Kiefer stood out again, but [she] admitted she was nervous,” Harvard coach Peter Brand said. “However, she came out very strong.”

Also contributing to the success in the foil was junior Shelby MacLeod and sophomore Katherine Chou.

Two more standout performers who stepped up in the absence of Vloka and Mills were junior Hailey Levitt and sophomore Alexa Fishman, who fought in the sabre and epee, respectively. Levitt, like Kiefer, had only one touch scored against her and filled in for Vloka.

“Hailey was brilliant in the meet; technically, tactically, she was 100 percent,” Brand said. “She is the most improved player we have.”

Fishman took Mills’ place and won two out of her three bouts to secure a close 5-4 victory in the epee.

—B. Marjorie Gullick