The men’s and women’s fencing teams started off their season strong at the Elite Invitational in Philadelphia on Nov. 16 and 17 with a complete sweep for the women’s squad and a 6-1 record for the men’s squad.

The Lions continued their strong performance from last year, when both teams secured the Ivy League title and placed third at the NCAA Fencing Championships. Now, they are ready to compete for another successful season.

In their first matchup at the invitational, which was hosted by Penn, Columbia dominated Cleveland State University. The men’s team beat the opposition 17-4, and the women’s team had a commanding 25-2 victory. The men’s foil squad, consisting of senior Zach Zusin and sophomore twins Enoch and Ethan Xiao, stood out with a 3-0 record each.

Although the men’s sabre squad came up short 3-6, the men’s épée squad clinched the overall victory with a 5-4 record, including a 3-0 record from first-year épéeist Luka Loncar.

The women’s foil squad—consisting of senior Vivian Zheng, junior Sofia Gaydos, and junior Evelyn Cheng—and the épée squad—consisting of sophomore Janet Chen, first-year Sonia Jakel, and first-year Sumin Lee—both went undefeated with a 9-0 record each. A 7-2 sabre victory clinched the 25-2 win.

The men’s and women’s teams both put up strong performances in their second matchup against Long Island University, winning 20-7 and 24-3, respectively. Men’s foil had a particularly strong performance with an 8-1 victory, boosted by undefeated showings from Zusin and Enoch Xiao.

Despite dropping two of three first three bouts, épée squad fought back with a win in five of the last six bouts to prevail 6-3. Sabre also won 6-3, helped by an undefeated performance by junior sabre fencer Nick Harvey.

The women’s foil team, boasting the same lineup, went undefeated 9-0 once again. Women’s sabre also went undefeated this time around, with 3-0 performances from first-year Janna Freedman, sophomore Chloe Szeto, and senior Charlotte DePew.

In the third matchup,the Lions prevailed over Stanford University. The men’s team made up for its 3-6 sabre loss with the strong performance of the other squads, ultimately winning 15-12. Both foil and épée won 6-3, supported by the undefeated 3-0 run of sophomore foil fencer Marsel Nagimov and 3-0 run by senior épeéist Ethan Kushnerik.

The women took a more commanding win with an 18-9 record. Sabre lost 4-5, but both épée and foil went 7-2 to make up the deficit. For the foil squad, an undefeated 3-0 run from junior Zander Rhodes helped clinch the victory. On the épée squad, Lee started strong with a 2-0 record, then Jakel substituted in and won the last bout to complete a 3-0 victory between the two of them and clinch the team victory.

In their fourth matchup of the tournament, both the women’s and men’s teams claimed victories over Duke University, claiming 16-11 and 17-10 records respectively. Senior Zach Binder and sophomore Sam Kumbla went undefeated in their bouts, leading the men’s foil squad to a 7-2 win. Senior sabre fencer Jackson McBride also dominated, scoring perfect marks and leading his squad to a 5-4 victory.

On the women’s side, the sabre team narrowly lost 4-5. However, the foil and épée teams secured enough points with impressive 7-2 and 6-3 records to lead their team to victory. First-year foil fencer Carolina Stutchbury had an outstanding performance, shutting out her opponent and scoring 3 points.

The women’s team then claimed a 21-6 victory over the University of North Carolina, with all three weapons defeating their opponents. Lee and sophomore épéeist Janet Chen went undefeated, leading the épée squad to a 8-1 win. The men’s matchup was more competitive, but ultimately the Lions secured a 14-13 win over the Tar Heels. Nagimov dominated his opponent, shutting them out and earning 3 points for the men’s foil squad in his second undefeated performance of the day.

In their fifth matchup of the day, all three men’s squads defeated their opponents, leading their team to a 22-5 victory over the Air Force Academy. Harvey and McBride boasted perfect 3-0 marks, leading the sabre squad to a 6-3 win. The foil team also had a standout performance, shutting out their opponent to score 9-0.

For the sixth round of the tournament, the women’s team defeated Temple University in a definitive 18-9 victory. The women’s foil team started strong with three straight wins, followed by one dropped bout 5-2 against Temple’s Anna Novoseltseva. However, the team came back strong, winning the next three bouts and securing a 6-3 overall victory.

Women’s épée continued the domination, defeating Temple with an overall 7-2 victory, including two bouts from senior Audrey Chu, who won on time and secured the Lions’ second overall triumph against Temple.

Women’s sabre faced a tough match against Temple, losing their first two bouts. The Lions quickly regained momentum, winning their next two bouts, and eventually secured the victory through a nail-biting series of matches.

The Light Blue capped off the day against Ohio State University. Men’s foil started the Lions off strong, dominating their first match 7-2. Men’s épée struggled against the Buckeyes, dropping all three bouts of the match. Both teams fought to regain the tournament lead, but the Lions fell to Ohio State 3-6. Men’s sabre started strong in its match against Ohio State, winning the first bout 5-2, but quickly lost momentum, only winning two of the following matches and rounding out the invitational with a 3-6 sabre loss and a tight 13-14 overall loss for the men.

The women’s squad found more success against the Buckeyes, with the women’s foil securing a solid 6-3 win. The women’s épée dominated their match, winning an impressive seven bouts in a row against Ohio State for a final overall score of 7-2. Finally, the women’s sabre squad continued the streak, only dropping one bout in their match against Ohio State, bringing the final score to 8-1. The women ended victorious with an overall record of 21-6 for the Lions.

Columbia fencing returned home on Friday to host the Columbia Invitational in Dodge Fitness Center.