Complete Detroit Invitational results (in Word)

Senior Ashlee McLemore (Detroit, MI/Renaissance) posted an unblemished record and sophomore Michael Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Home School) flirted with doing the same before dropping his final bout of the day as five Titan fencers posted winning records at Calihan Hall Sunday during the Detroit Invitational.

McLemore was dominant with her sabre all day long, sweeping three matches each against the University of Michigan, Michigan State and cross-town foe Wayne State. Purdy-Sachs entered the Titans' final dual of the day against Wayne State with a 6-0 mark, but fell behind to the Warriors' Tim Mulligan and was unable to stage a comeback, ending the day with an 8-1 record.

The men's sabre squad had the most impressive showing of the day for the Titans, earning a 6-3 victory against Michigan State and narrowly dropping a pair of 5-4 decisions to Michigan and Wayne State. Both junior Tom Lorenzo (Avon, OH/St. Ignatius) and senior Doug Sollman (Sterling Hts., MI/Stevenson) of the sabre squad finished the day with winning records, going 5-4 and 6-3, respectively.

The men's foil squad picked up a 5-4 victory against Michigan thanks to help from junior Brad Coon (Jenison, MI/Hudsonville), who picked up his only two victories of the day. The epee squad, competing with just two fencers and trailing 3-0 at the start of each match, was unable to overcome the early deficits.

Detroit's women's team, despite having no epee squad and beginning each match in a nine-point hole, had a solid outing. The Titans came out on top in the bouts that were fenced against Michigan and Michigan State, but were unable to erase the margin, falling 17-10 and 16-11, respectively. Against Michigan, the women's sabre squad went 8-1, while the women's foil squad went 8-1 against Michigan State.

“The women's sabre and foil squads did pretty good today,” said UDM head coach Todd Dressell. “That's what we like to see out of them, they're moving in a real positive direction.”

Senior Ashley Colbert (Washington, MI/Romeo) was a second Detroit fencer on the women's side besides McLemore to post a winning record Sunday, fighting her way to a 5-4 mark in the foil, including a sweep of Michigan State in opening match for the Titans. Sophomore Samantha LaFrance (Macomb, MI/Dakota) bounced back after dropping her first three bouts to sweep Michigan before finishing the day with a 4-5 mark.

“I was really happy with all of our first-year fencers,” commented Dressell. “They could be really solid once we get them some more experience.”

Junior Tim Nelson (Riverview, MI/Gabriel Richard) led Detroit's rookies with a 3-6 showing in the epee, taking two bouts against Michigan State and another against Michigan. Freshman Olivia Furnas (Macomb, MI/Dakota) fought her way to a 2-7 mark, picking up both of her victories during the women's sabre squad's thrashing of Michigan.

While Dressell saw some things that he really liked during the Titans' only home competition of the season, he is aware they will need to make some improvements before facing harder competition at the end of the month.

“The Northwestern meet (Jan. 30-31) is going to be significantly harder than today was,” Dressell acknowledged. “We need to focus on getting our attention and thoughts sharper from bout to bout before we can really compete against better teams.”

On Saturday morning the Titans will host an Alumni Meet as part of UDM's homecoming festivities, and will then return to competition at the end of the month when they travel to Evanston, IL, for the Northwestern Mega-Meet.