The fencing team is looking to capitalize off of last year’s rookie class success, having already given strong performances this season at the Temple Fencing Open and the Vassar Invitational, where it bested all six teams it faced by a substantial margin. 

The 32nd annual Temple Fencing Open was a solid start to the season for the Red (9-8, 2-4 Ivy League), with sophomore Christine McIntosh taking the silver medal in foil and placing second among 86 fencers in the final round. Junior Christie Robinson earned the bronze medal in epee and placed third out of 92 fencers in the final round, as well. The two-day tournament is widely regarded as the largest of its kind in the nation, hosting an estimated 600 fencers. This tournament marked the first time in Cornell history that every single Red fencer advanced into the direct elimination round.

After the strong start to the season at Temple, the Red dominated the Vassar Invitational, beating Tufts, Haverford, Wellesley, Sacred Heart, Hunter and the host school Vassar. The foil squad held the best record of the day for Cornell,  blanking four of its six opponents, 9-0, and going 51-3 overall. McIntosh concluded the day with a perfect 15-0 record, while senior Rebecca Hirschfeld tallied a 17-1 mark and sophomore April Whitney went 14-2 for the day. Not to be entirely outdone, the epee squad gave a strong performance as well, going 40-14 on the day and defeating every opponent except Sacred Heart. The competition was a little tighter for the sabre fencers, with the squad notching three one-point victories as it finished the day 37-12 overall.

Last year, the Red sent 11 fencers to participate in the NCAA Regionals — a team-high during head coach Iryna Dolgikh’s tenure. Of those 11 fencers, five placed in the top 20 and three advanced to the NCAA tournament, where the Red finished 17th overall. A pair of then-freshmen foilists was largely responsible for this accomplishment. McIntosh placed 14th overall — making her Cornell's highest scorer at NCAAs since Alex Heiss '09 took 13th in 2008 — and Whitney finished 18th overall. 

This year’s team is comprised of six sabre, nine foilists and seven epeeists, of which two sabres, four foilists and two epeeists are freshmen.

“We do have a solid number of freshmen who joined the team this year,” Dolgikh said. “This year we are fortunate that several good quality fencers in foil, epee and saber joined our team. Everyone so far has shown exceptional work ethic and took our team tournament preparation very seriously -- and it paid off when we went to compete at Temple Open [and medaled] and Vassar Meet [where we went undefeated]. Also this year, like no other year, we have enjoyed  team activities and participation by our freshmen [in practice]. It really shows how freshmen are contributing to this program as a whole and how dedicated they are to be the best they can be.”

Whitney sees a bright future for the team’s newest members.

“Right now they are really developing their styles and confidence,” she said. “Right now they are learning from all of the seniors, like the captains. In the future, though, I see them contributing a lot.”