Both the Dartmouth College fencing and table tennis teams had solid weekends, cementing their positions for the postseason.
FENCING:
The fencing team spent a successful two days competing in Massachusetts last weekend. On Saturday, the women faced UMass, UNH, Boston University, and Tufts University on the campus of the Jumbos. The men dueled the same schools at UMass-Amherst on Sunday. Both teams brought home victories.
The women's foil team defeated both the Boston University Terriers and the UMass Minutemen. Anila Thomas '01 and Nina Davis, a transfer, led the way with ten wins each, including Thomas' 4-0 sweep of UMass. Also contributing multiple victories were Jenny Holland '99 and Molly Feltner '01. On the epee side, Anna Rudberg '01 split her bouts against UNH, earning a 2-2 record.
After beginning the day with a tough loss to Tufts, the men's team pulled together to defeat UNH (17-10) and UMass (16-11). In between the two victories, the team suffered a close-fought 14-13 loss to BU. Both the foil and epee squads earned 3-1 records on the day. James Chalfant '99 (epee) and Andrew Kim '01 (foil) finished the day with 9-3 records; Jesse Foote '01 (epee) and Nat Rink '99 (foil) followed with records of 8-4. The team ended the day on a high note, winning 7 of their last 9 bouts; Wilson Liu '00, a last minute addition to the team, won the decisive 14th bout against UMass.
Both teams have this weekend off but look forward to the New England Championships on February 21-22.
TABLE TENNIS:
By defeating Harvard and Boston University for the first time in the team's history, the Dartmouth College Table Tennis team clinched a berth in the League of Northeastern Intercollegiate Table Tennis (LNITT) Northern Division playoffs. With the win, the Big Green regular season record is 4-2.
Despite missing their third singles player, Robert Lendvai '99, due to a wrist injury, the team played a fabulous weekend of matches The rest of the line-up was bumped up one spot, and their depth proved crucial in the win over Harvard.
The matches against BU and Harvard were both tied at two after the singles matches and according to LNITT rules, a doubles match is used as a tie-breaker. The team of Yin Xu, a graduate student, and Jason Deeken '00 won both doubles matches to secure the Big Green victory.
The Big Green could not, however, work their magic against the undefeated and prohibitive favorite MIT Engineers, succumbing 4-0. Jason Deeken '00 and Justin Sarma '01 did well to extend their matches to three games.
Their victory over the Terriers eliminated Boston University from postseason competition.
The playoffs will be held on February 28 on the campus of Harvard University. MIT has secured the top seed for the tournament. The second through fourth seeds will be Dartmouth, Harvard, and Babson with their specific seeds to be determined by the result of the Harvard-Babson match next week.
