No. 7 Temple fencing goes undefeated at NJIT Invitational

Temple University fencing won all of three of its bouts at the New Jersey Institute of Technology Invitational on Saturday.

Temple (21-7) beat the Stevens Institute of Technology, 22-5, and Wagner College, 26-1, with undefeated performances from the sabre squad.

The Owls finished the competition with a 19-8 win against NJIT. The foil and sabre squads went 8-1, while epee lost, 6-3.

The foil squad defeated NJIT, Stevens, and Wagner 8-1. Epee finished 9-0 against Wagner and finished 5-4 against Stevens.

“The matches were closer than the scores indicate,” coach Nikki Franke said. “We were to pull out some of the close bouts. That just showed good focus and concentration on our part.”

Sophomore foil Megan Ross and junior foil Kennedy Lovelace went undefeated with seven and five wins, respectively.

Sophomore sabre Eva Hinds went 8-0 while senior sabre Blessing Olaode and junior sabre Malia Hee finished undefeated with three wins each. Junior sabre Kerry Plunkett won both of her matches.

Senior Fiona Fong led the epee squad with a 6-2 record.

“It’s not easy to go undefeated,” Franke said. “They’re fencing really well and adjusting to the competition.”

Temple will host Penn State, John Hopkins University, St. John’s University, Princeton University and Penn at the Temple Invitational on Feb. 24 at McGonigle Hall. Three of the teams –– No. 4 Penn State, No. 9 Penn and No. 10 Princeton –– are ranked in the CollegeFencing360.com Women’s Coaches Poll.

The team is excited to compete in a home meet and host tough opponents, Franke said.

“It’s nice to finally have a home meet,” Franke added. “It’s also our senior day, which is something we’re definitely looking forward to. We have some very stiff competition that day, which will be a good challenge.”