On March 2, 2024, the Brandeis Judges’ women’s fencing team traveled to Madison, New Jersey, to compete in the Northeastern Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) championships. Of the 16 competing teams, the Judges placed sixth overall, with the team’s foil and sabre squads in fifth place and the epee squad in sixth. On the individual level, five team members qualified for the elimination bracket in the championships.
The sabre squad scored 33 wins, divided evenly among Kat Xikes ’26, Olga Sadova ’27 and Calla Lee ’25—each of whom scored 11. This left them only one win behind the fourth-place finishers. The foil squad, meanwhile, scored 31 wins, similarly edging the fourth-place team by only one point. In the foil event’s “A” group, Alex McKee ’24 scored nine wins, with Hannah Du ’26 taking a team-best 12 wins in the “B” group and Ella Richards ’27 and Livvy Oliveira ’26 scoring a combined 10 wins in the “C” group. Lastly, the epee squad finished their event with 30 wins, again only one behind fifth-place scorer Tufts University. In the epee “A” group, Vera Merrill Witte ’27 led with eight wins. In the “B” group, Olivia Bennett ’26 had a 5-0 record while Bronwyn Rothman-Hall ’25 had a 5-5 record. Finally, “C” group fencer Monica Aponte (GRAD) had a 7-3 record with Ryan Weinsier ’27 having a 5-0 record.
Looking at individual performances, Du was the top performer for Brandeis at the championship. She reached the elimination bracket’s semifinals, but lost to a close call 15-13 score against Johns Hopkins University fencer Juliana Wu. Additionally Xikes made it to the quarterfinals, but was eliminated after losing 15-11 to Stevens Institute of Technology fencer Alana Schmitt, who had also defeated Sadova in the elimination bracket’s opening round. McKee and Witte qualified for the elimination brackets in the foil and the epee respectively, though both were eliminated in the opening round.
Next, the Judges’ fencing team will travel to Long Island University on March 10 to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Northeast Regional Championships.
