Final Results
 
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (3/2/2014) -- Four fencers from the University of Detroit Mercy men's and women's fencing teams finished in the Top 20 in their respective weapons at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships on Saturday and Sunday at the Castellan Family Fencing Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
 
Yaroslav Ivanov was 12th in men's foil, Austin Carlisle was 12th in men's sabre, and Aaron Dittel from men's epee was 15th. In women's sabre, Eva Berndt placed 13th overall. As a team, the Detroit men finished 10th overall (of 21) and the women placed 11th (of 20).
 
In men's foil, Ivanov was seeded 12th heading into the tournament and earned a bye in the pool rounds. In his first DE, he won 15-4 and advanced to the table of 16 with a 15-6 win. In the table of 16, he fell in a tough match-up with Nickolas Kubik of Notre Dame that Kubik won by three touches over Ivanov with a 15-12 mark. Overall, Kubik finished in a tie for third while Ivanov placed 12th out of 68.
 
Also in men's foil, Elijah Robertson continued to improve in his senior season as he was 5-1 in the pool rounds and won his first DE 15-5. He ran into Kubik in the table of 32 and did not advance further but Robertson finished 26th overall after placing 60th a year ago at the MFC Championships and 66th in 2012. Other men's foil participants included Christos Katsiyiannis who had a win in the pool rounds and finished 58th and Cole Goike collected a pair of wins in the pool round and placed 49th.
 
In men's sabre, Carlisle was the top Titan seeded 12th and earning a bye in the pool round. In his first DE, he won 15-4 and then advanced to the table of 16 with a 15-2 victory. Carlisle then matched up with the number five seed and fell by a 15-9 score to end his day and finished 12th out of 64.
 
In other men's sabre action, Zaahid Muhammad was 3-3 in the pool round and won his first DE 15-10 before falling in the table of 32 and finishing 30th.
 
In men's epee, Dittel was 5-0 in the pool rounds and was seeded as the top Titan in the direct elimination (DE) round at 19th. Dittel had a 15-5 win in the round of 64 and advanced again after a 15-11 victory into the round of 32. Dittel then matched up with third-seeded Bill Meyer from Ohio State who eventually fell in the championship bout to his teammate and eventual winner Kristian Boyadzhiev. Dittel finished 15th overall out of 80 fencers as UDM's top men's epee fencer.
 
Also in men's epee, Jacob Theut had three wins in the pool rounds and then fell in the first DE placing 46th, Brock Bendes was 4-2 in the pool rounds and fell in first DE finishing 41st, and Josef Samayoa came up with a victory in the pool rounds ended up 72nd overall.
 
On the women's side, Eva Berndt in women's sabre was a perfect 5-0 in the pool round and was seeded 14th in the DE round after starting out as the 18th seed. Eva Berndt won her first DE 15-7 and then edged out a 15-12 win in the table of 32. In the table of 16, she fell to the No. 3 seed and finished 13th overall out of 62 fencers. Also in women's sabre, Katie Lang was 4-1 in the pools and won her first DE before falling to the No. 1 seed in the table of 32 and finished 29th. Shannon Canavan was 2-4 in the pools and fell in her first DE by four touches and was 47th and McKenna Brohl was 2-3 in pool play and finished 42nd.
 
In women's epee, Kaylah Berndt was 5-1 in the pool rounds and was seeded 21st heading into the DE rounds. She won her first DE 15-5 but fell by three touches in the table of 32 and finished 21st overall out of 61 fencers. Roby Wong was 3-3 in the pool rounds and won her first DE 15-7 before she fell 15-5 in the table of 32 and placed 30th. Other women's epee fencers saw Paige Zmudczynski take three wins in the pool round and place 38th, Taj Kooner had three wins in the pools and finished 40th, while Lauren Snarski had two wins in the pools and was 52nd.
 
In women's foil, Sarah Casnovsky had two wins in the pool rounds and was the top UDM women's fencer with the foil weapon placing 49th of 70 while Christina Powers was 1-4 in the pool round and finished in 58th and Mary Colombo placed 67th overall.
 
As a team, the Detroit men finished 10th overall (of 21) and the women placed 11th (of 20) after a total score among the three weapons. 
 
Men's foil fell 9-8 to Wisconsin in its first match-up but came back with a 5-2 win over Indiana and then a 5-2 win over Case Western to finish in ninth place and at the top of the consolation bracket. The men's sabre team won it's first bout over Case Western 5-2 before falling to Lawrence by the same 5-2 score and eventually defeated Oakland 5-3 to place seventh.
 
On the women's side, the sabre team defeated Indiana 5-1 in the opening round and ran into a tough Ohio State team in the quarterfinals and ended up placing sixth overall. Epee lost in the opening round 5-2 to Lawrence before posting a 5-1 win over Wisconsin and then adding a second win downing Cleveland State 5-1 to place 10th overall.  Foil fell to Xavier 5-4 in the play-in round.
 
The next competition for UDM fencing will be the NCAA Midwest Fencing Regionals that will be hosted by UDM at Calihan Hall on Saturday, March 8 starting at 9:00 a.m.
 
10 Titans will represent Detroit as Eva Berndt (sabre), Katie Lang (sabre), Paige Zmudczynski (epee), Kayla Berndt (epee), and Roby Wong (epee) will represent the UDM women while Aaron Dittel (epee), Jacob Theut (epee), Austin Carlisle (sabre), Yaroslav Ivanov (foil), and Elijah Robertson (foil) will represent the men.
 
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