Juliana Gomez repeats in epee, UP remains ahead in women's fencing

c/o UAAP

The University of the Philippines put themselves into a good position to break the stranglehold of the University of the East in women's fencing, thanks to their two-medal haul in Day 2 of the UAAP tournament at the Quadricentennial Pavilion inside the University of Santo Tomas campus on Friday.

Their first medal came from epee, with a successful title defense from Juliana Gomez.

The second-generation fencer pulled off a come-from-behind victory against Cyrra Vergara, 15-14, in a rematch of their Season 85 final.

Gomez shared afterwards, "I feel like I just hit a bull's eye because the target was the gold, but I was able to add to what Nana Carbonell did during the first day. It was honestly such a great feeling that we have a good chance of winning the overall for the women's."

Angela Dayro added a bronze for the Fighting Maroons in the individual sabre, allowing them to match Carbonell and Nami Noro's feats the day before.

Their two-gold and two-bronze total keeps them ahead of the University of the East, who notched their first gold in the division through a successful sabre title defense for Queen Dalmacio.

The two-time MVP had a tough road to the final, eking out a 15-13 win over UST's Kim Shaznee Tuy in the quarterfinals and a 15-11 win over Ateneo's Kaku dela Serna in the semifinal.

In the final, however, she manage to replicate her feat last season by defeating Janna Allysah Catantan, 15-7.

Janna's silver medal puts the hosts on level terms with La Salle in third place, with Vergara's silver and Krups Edlinag's bronze from epee allows the fencers from Taft to enter the fray.

Dela Serna's bronze for the Blue Eagles puts them on the board.

As for the men's division, UST was unable to capitalize on their momentum from Thursday, as defending champions UE and La Salle leapfrogged the Tiger Fencers with their performances in foil.

Shawn Nicollei Felipe took down Robert Cabaero, in an all-UE final, 15-8. The two took down their respective Green Fencer opposition in the semifinals to forge a beneficial final for their title retention hopes.

Felipe dispatched Jose Lorenzo Mercado, 15-6, while Cabaero beat Reindelle Lacerna, 15-9.

Even with the defeats, La Salle moved ahead of the hosts with the two bronzes alongside the gold they secured on Thursday in epee.

As for the high school division, the University of the East looks poised to extend their long reign due to their triumphs on Friday.

Opao Catantan kicked things off in the morning with a 15-12 final against compatriot Adrienne Lising in girls sabre, while Aubrey Fernandez did the same in the afternoon against Nina Canlas, 15-9 in girls' epee.

Louis Shoemaker and James Lim matched that in the boys' foil, with the former emerging as a 15-8 winner.

The Tuy siblings, Krystal and Kathleen, secured bronzes for UST, but they remain third behind La Salle in the girls' division as Miyake Capina and Martina Baccay also netted bronzes.

Both UST and Ateneo got their third bronzes through the efforts of Angel Aberilla and Derek Perez.

Saturday action at the same venue kicks off team play, with the morning session featuring boys' epee, women's foil, and men's sabre. Completing the slate in the afternoon are men's epee, girls' foil, and boys' sabre.