Photos courtesy of Qiao Se Ong ’25.
Left: Mount Holyoke Fencing competed in the NEIFC championships on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Wellesley. Right: Sabreist Danyah Shaikh ’25, above, scored against Boston University at the NEIFC championship.
By Genevieve Zahner ’26
Staff Writer
Mount Holyoke Fencing competed in the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championship hosted by Wellesley College on Saturday, Feb. 25. The team competed in all three weapons, including épée, sabre and foil.
“This was the first competition of this semester, and it was definitely a great way to start our spring season,” Co-Captain and Sabre Weapon Head Eli Gerbi ’25 said. “I know I was able to execute skills that I couldn’t last year and beat people I wouldn’t have been able to even a semester ago. I also saw some definite improvements in other members of my squad, and many of the errors that we had worked so hard to correct were minimal or nonexistent. Everyone was ‘fencing smart,’ and that alone is a huge thing that says so much about this ability to adapt, learn and stay confident on [the] strip.”
Gerbi spoke about the admirable performance of many team members who only learned to fence this year.
“We have a very young team right now. Around half of them only started fencing in the fall of 2022 or later, and have put in so much effort, time and work to get where they are today,” Gerbi said. “For some of them, this was their first tournament, and for most of them, it was only their second or third. The environment of a tournament can be hard to get used to, but they all did such a great job staying calm, adapting to other fencers and referees and supporting each other.”
Competing in the Senior Team Women’s Foil event, Mount Holyoke was represented by Halina Smolen ’26, Lauren Macias Severino ’25 and Catalina Dippel ’25. In the initial pool round, the foilists had 17 victories and 114 touches scored. Their performance led them to place 15th, beating the University of Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts.
Mount Holyoke’s fencers competing in the Senior Team Women’s Épée event were Maya Frey ’23, Ruth Pelligrino ’24 and Rebecca Moberg ’26. The épéeists won 11 bouts and scored 109 touches in the pool round and went on to place 15th, winning against Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Boston University.
The Senior Team Women’s Sabre event was completed by Gerbi, Danyah Shaikh ’25 and Qiao Se Ong ’25. In pools, the sabreists won 20 bouts and scored 146 touches. They then placed 10th out of 17 teams, above Smith College and trailing Stony Brook University.
“As a whole, both my squad and the team put up some really good performances and everyone came home with at least one bout they were proud of,” Gerbi said. “I am so proud of my team and my squad for what they did and have done this year.”