SEASON RECAP: Fencing Claims Fifth in NCAA, Vloka Takes Title

For the Harvard men’s and women’s fencing teams, it was supposed to be a rebuilding year. After ending the season with a fifth-place finish in the NCAA tournament and a national title winner, it was clear that the Crimson far exceeded expectations.

“This year, we had a relatively new team,” said sabre national champion Caroline Vloka. “We lost a lot of good people last year, but the freshmen really picked it up.”

Between the two teams, 19 of the 29 fencers were either freshmen or sophomores.

Despite the relative inexperience of a young squad, the Crimson fencers were able to overcome the odds and capture a No. 6 and No. 9 national ranking on the men’s and women’s sides, respectively, at season’s end.

The women, who had just come off of an Ivy League championship last year, had a season of both brilliant and disappointing performances, culminating in a grand finale at NCAAs. The Harvard women opened the season with a bang at the Harvard Invitational—earning two medals through the efforts of sophomore co-captains Vloka and Noam Mills—and proceeded to plow forward with a seven-match win streak, taking down defending national champion Penn State and the dominant forces of North Carolina, NYU, and Princeton.

But following this powerful start, the Crimson lost momentum, falling in five consecutive matches at the St. John’s Invitational. The remainder of the season followed this high and low trend, resulting in a formidable 3-0 performance at the Beanpot followed by a fourth-place finish at the Ivy League conference tournament.

“The women’s team had their ups and downs,” sophomore Valentin Staller said. “They definitely had a chance to do something in the Ivy League...but lost a few very close bouts.”

The women concluded the Ivy League Championships with a 3-3 record, defeating Brown in all weapons but falling to Columbia and Princeton. Mills, Vloka, and sophomore Shelby MacLeod garnered spots on the All-Ivy League First Team, led by Mills’ strong showing in the épée.

After earning the maximum amount of qualifiers at NCAA Regionals, the women finished fifth at the NCAA Championships, held at Gordon Track. The highlight of the two-day final was the crowning of Vloka as the national champion in the sabre after she defeated longtime rival Rebecca Ward of Duke.

Although the men cannot boast a national-title winner, they can claim a 14-7 record, two members of the All-American team and five of the All-Ivy squad.

“It was definitely a rebuilding year,” Staller said, “but we really showed that we could beat some of the best teams.”

Staller won the silver medal at the Garret Penn State Open, and teammates sophomore James Hawrot and freshman Thomas Kolasa captured fifth in their respective weapons. In the Ivy League Championships, the men finished tied for second place after defeating Yale, Brown, and Columbia and falling to Penn and Princeton. Staller and freshman Ben White earned first-team All-Ivy honors while Kolasa, Hawrot, and co-captain Karl Harmenberg were named to the second team.

During the NCAA Championships, Staller finished sixth in the sabre, good enough for a spot on the All-American Second Team. Freshman Tommasso di Robilant placed 12th in the foil, and Hawrot and Harmenberg finished 14th and 16th in the épée, respectively.

One of the brilliant moments for both teams was their performance at the NCAA Northeast Regionals, where Harvard qualified the maximum number of fencers (12) to compete at the NCAA Championships.

“Both teams did extremely well in the postseason,” Staller said. “We qualified the maximum number of fencers, which only four other teams were able to do.”

For a team with few expectations at the beginning of the season, the end certainly brought promising results.

“We recognized that we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Harmenberg said, “but the underclassmen really showed up and always came out strong.”

“This year has given us so much to build off of for next season,” Staller added.

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.