This Sunday, the women’s fencing team will travel to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, to compete in its second event of the season: the Vassar Invitational. Vassar will host a variety of teams including a plethora of Northeast squads like Yeshiva University, Haverford College and Queens College.

The Red, under fifth year coach Iryna Dolgikh, will be competing together for the first time since Halloween’s Temple Open and is confident in its preparation for this weekend.

Epee anyone?: The women’s fencing team will have a tough time this weekend when it faces a plethora of Northeast rivals at Vassar, where NCAA points are on the line.

“The Temple Open is the best preparation you can have,” said assistant coach and administrator Olena Gutor. “Some girls went to other national tournaments [last] weekend also to prepare.”

The women’s fencing team is led by its epee squad, which placed four fencers in the top 10 at the Temple Open. Coach Dolgikh expects the epee fencers to play a large role at Vassar as well.

“The Epee squad is the strongest weapon this year because we have three seniors…it’s the most confident squad because of their high level of experience,” Dolgikh said.

In addition to senior leadership, the epee squad has also benefited greatly from the addition of freshmen Adelaide Macdonald and Mariana Napolitano. Macdonald placed 24th at the Temple Open while Napolitano finished 10th.

The foil squad is composed mainly of juniors and sophomores, and like the epee squad, will use its experience to do well at the Invitational.

“They already have experience from past years…Rebecca Hershfield and Dana Baines should lead our team,” Dolgikh said.

At the Temple Open, Hershfield, a sophomore, captured a bronze medal. Baines, a senior, narrowly missed a top-10 ranking, placing 11th.

The Red’s third weapon, sabre, is also expected to affect the Red’s point total in a significant way. However, unlike the epee and foil squads, the sabre squad doesn’t possess the luxury of experience.

“Sabre is an interesting squad because it is a very young team. We have four freshmen on sabre,” Dolgikh said.

Freshmen Audrey Speer leads the squad. Speer finished eighth overall at the Temple Open. Freshman Beverly Yang ended up 11th out of the 73 fencers participating in sabre.

The Vassar Invitational will be the most rigorous tournament this year for the Red. With eight rounds of fencing per day, the Red’s skill and stamina will be tested. The Invitational is especially important to Cornell, being the first meet with NCAA points on the line.

“This is probably the most packed tournament we’ve had in the last several years. From this tournament we get NCAA points,” Gutor said. “ Therefore, we absolutely need to win…for future qualifications.”

Physically, the Red has been diligent about preparing for the Invitational, and the 2009-10 season as a whole.

“We’ve done some conditioning, we do weightlifting outside of practice…. lots of fencing obviously. Drills, footwork, things like that. A lot of it is mental as well,“ said senior captain Katherine Thomson.

Therefore, expect the Red to come out toned and sharp at Vassar. The competition will be strenuous but the Red expects all three weapons—foil, epee and sabre—to contribute to its success in Poughkeepsie.

“There are always a lot of really good fencers,” said Thompson. “It’s going to be a tough tournament with good bouts.”