DETROIT (5/15/2018) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's and women's fencing programs held their annual team banquet this past month at Calihan Hall with juniors Algird Szumlas (Glendora, Calif.) and Erica Tessmer (Richmond, Mich.) earning Team MVP accolades.

Szumlas and Tessmer were each named Most Valuable Players for their respective teams for the third consecutive season. Both three-year varsity letter winners, Szumlas placed ninth individually at the Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championship and helped lead the squad to a third-place finish as a weapon in foil at the MFC Championship. Tessmer earned 35th in the sabre at the MFC Championship and sixth at the Danosi Open for the Titans in 2017-18.

Szumlas led the Titan men's fencers with 44 victories on the season, compiling a 44-15 record overall. Tessmer earned 19 bout victories to lead the women's team.

The Most Improved honors were handed out to sophomore foilists Danielle Spencer (Royal Oak, Mich.) and Ethan Powers (Battle Creek, Mich.). Spencer earned the award for the women's team after earning 11 victories during the season, while Powers was third among men's foilists with 13 triumphs during 2017-18.

Head coach Todd Dressell bestowed the Newcomer's of the Year accolades to fencing rookies James Baker (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Aya El-Mokadam (Dearborn Heights, Mich). Baker, a junior, finished with three wins, while El-Mokadam earned 11 in the epee and was the top finisher for the Titans at the MFC Championship, placing 16th in the weapon.

Receiving the Pincushion of the Year awards were freshmen Ian Smith and Andrea Sandoval. The Pincushion award is presented to one male and female fencer who accrued a large amount of losses during the season and based on potential, is the coach's pick to improve in the future.

Senior John Engelman (Lapeer, Mich.) received several honors at the annual University Honors Convocation, earning the Accounting Award and Beta Alpha Psi Award from the College of Business Administration as well as the Financial Executives International Award, the Beta Gamma Sigma Award and the Dr. Leonard E. Plachta Accounting Scholarship, while also earning the Dean's Honor Certificate for accumulating a GPA over 3.5.

Senior fencer Mikael Paulik (Rochester, Minn.) was a recipient of the Academic Excellence Award for sporting a GPA of 3.0 or better in each semester of college across his four years and the squad overall had better than 3.3 GPA's in both semesters during the 2017-18 academic school year.

Detroit Mercy men's fencing program once again scored a perfect 1,000 on its recent APR and is one of just 23 programs in the state of Michigan to receive the honor. The squad is also one of just 85 teams across the country that have earned Public Recognition Awards every year of the 13-year-old program.

The Titan men's fencing team placed sixth at the conference meet, with the men's foilists earning third. The women's fencing squad placed ninth in 2017-18.

2017-18 Team Awards
Men's Team
MVP -- Algird Szumlas
Most Improved -- Ethan Powers
Newcomer of the Year -- James Baker
Pincushion of the Year -- Ian Smith

Women's Team
MVP -- Erica Tessmer
Most Improved -- Danielle Spencer
Newcomer of the Year -- Aya El-Mokadam
Pincushion of the Year -- Andrea Sandoval