Jan. 13, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The fencing team returns home this weekend to host its final home match of the season. Penn State will compete against Yale, Haverford, Duke, Temple (women only), the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina and Columbia.
The duel will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the White Building this Saturday, Jan. 16. While Penn State will see action throughout the day, by far the most highly anticipated match-up will be at 1 p.m. against the defending NCAA champions, Columbia. Penn State was the 2015 championship runner-ups, so it will be a best-of-the-best showdown between the top-two teams in the NCAA.
The Nittany Lions will also be honoring their seniors this Saturday, just before the Columbia match. Senior Day festivities will begin just before the duel and include the playing of the Penn State fight songs, free t-shirt giveaways and an appearance by the Nittany Lion.
Penn State students who attend can also enter for a chance to win $250 in books at the Student Bookstore, and the first 100 students in the door will receive free pizza.
Competing for the women are as follows:
Epee: Jessica O'Neill-Lyublinsky (North Salem, N.Y.), Lia Gavazzi (Warriors Mark, Pa.), Jessie Radanovich (Tollhouse, Calif.), Julia Higson (State College, Pa.), Alissa Hofmann (Cambridge, Mass.), Anastasia Kalonji (Rennes, France), Shelby Kaplan (Niantic, Conn.), Medora McCarthy (Los Altos Hills, Calif.), Nicolette Vigna (Thornwood, N.Y.) and Sarah Waller (McKinney, Texas).
Sabre: Hanan Adnan (Singapore, Singapore), Brianne Cavaliere (Wayne, N.J.), Kathryn Charpin (Setauket, N.Y.), Teodora Kakhiani (Tbilisi, Georgia), Erin McLoughlin (San Jose, Costa Rica), DeAna Oliver (Montclair, N.J.) and Jacqueline Rozpedowski (Quakerstown, Pa.).
Foil: Najiyyah Clark (Maplewood, N.J.), Christine Fanning (Wheeling, W.Va.), Kasey Iverson (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Clarisse Luminet (Lyon, France) and Desree Ortega-Furgeson (Wyoming, Mich.).
Competing for the men are as follows:
Epee: Patrick August (Las Vegas, Nev.), Joshua Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.), Farzaan Karimi (Medfield, Mass.), Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas), Conor Shepard (Colleyville, Texas), Lars Swanson (Mendham, N.J.) and Oskar Tang (Gothenbur, Sweden).
Sabre: David Akrami (Piano, Texas), Alejandro Andrade (Quito, Ecuador), Eduardo Lara (Queretaro, Mexico), Marcel Dolegiewicz (Park Ridge, Ill.), Gaspar Lesznik (Wyckoff, N.J.), Adam Lewicki (Oakland, N.J.), Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.), Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.), Kaito Streets (Redwood City, Calif.), Khalil Thompson (Teaneck, N.J.) and Gavin Turner (Rehoboth, Mass.).
Foil: Stephen Barnett (Clinton, Conn.), Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.), Howie Chan (Walnut, Calif.), Richard Cho (Seoul, South Korea), Julian Fevry (St. Albans, N.Y.), Nicolas Graziano (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Dylan Pyne (Princeton, N.J.) and Paul Valigorsky (DuBois, Pa.).
Penn State fans are encouraged to follow Penn State fencing via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pennstateFEN, on Penn State Fencing's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pennstatefencing and on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/pennstateFEN.