Men’s Team Win Highlights Air Force Fencing At Tar Heel Invitational

Air Force fencing completed competition at the Tar Heel Invite Sunday at Eddie Smith Fieldhouse on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, N.C. The men's team won the competition with a 2-0 record, while the women's team went 1-1.

The men defeated host UNC 15-12 and Long Island 22-5. The women's team fell to UNC 19-8 and defeated Long Island 17-10.

Against the Tar Heel men's team, it was Air Force's epee group leading the way, going 7-2. Russell Cha went 3-0, Matthew Han 2-0 and Omar Emara 2-1 for the group. In addition, the foil group earned five points as Ned Maurer led the group by going 3-0. Mack Luebbe led the saber group with two bout victories.

Against Long Island, all three weapons won their matchups. The foil group went 9-0, the epee group 7-2 and the saber group 6-3. Griffin Peter and Maurer went 3-0 to lead the foil group. Maurer completed a 6-0 weekend. Cha led the epee group by going 3-0 to complete a 6-0 weekend. William Barber led the saber group with a 3-0 run.

One the women's side, the Falcons opened with the match against North Carolina. The foil and epee groups eared three points each. Melissa Kline went 3-0 to lead the foil group. Ellie Kim led the epee group with two wins. Mira Vestel earned a point for the Falcons in the saber group.

The Falcons won the LIU match with the epee group leading the way with a 9-0 performance. The saber group also earned five points. The epee group of Valerie Slackman, Josie Ratzlaff and Kim all went 3-0. Vestel went 3-0 to lead the saber group. Kline went 3-0 in foil to compete a 6-0 weekend.

Head coach Omar Elgeziry on the weekend:
"It was another great weekend for our Falcon fencers. I'm very satisfied with our team's performance and the results. It felt good to earn a valuable win against the UNC Men's team in their home meet. I'm very excited for our cadets who went undefeated with a 6-0 record: Kline, Maurer, and Cha. Also, super proud of Russell for beating the No. 2 Junior world-ranked fencer (under 20), who is also 23rd on the senior level. This weekend was a great indicator for us that we are heading in the right direction and it's a huge confidence booster for our cadets, who will be ready to compete in the West Regional and the MPSF conference championships in a month. Go Falcons!

Air Force returns to action at the Junior Olympics in Denver, Feb. 17-20.

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