UE at cusp towards title retention

c/o UAAP

The first day of team competition saw the University of the East set themselves up for potentially another complete sweep of the fencing divisions of the UAAP Season 86 tournament Saturday.

The men's division saw the defending champions and their most likely challengers claim gold medals in two of the three disciples.

The Red Warriors defeated the University of the Philippines, 45-37 in the men's epee final, behind the efforts of RJ Perez, Aurell Obnuzar, Ramil Encilan, Jr., and Nicollei Felipe.

Claiming the bronzes in this event are the University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle University.

The Tiger Fencers, comprised of Eunice Villanueva, Junior Fuenzalida, Kurt Marquez, and Larco Cortez, kept their slim hopes of potentially denying a tenth straight title from going to Recto by winning the men's sabre final, 45-37.

The Green Fencers led, 30-21 Larc Cortez scored twelve points for the hosts to cut the deficit to just 33-35. Marquez then outpointed John Michael Gajon, 7-1, to give UST a 40-36 lead, with individual champion Villanueva finishing off the match.

Settling for bronze medals in this event are UP and Ateneo.

With the foil disciple still left to be played, UE still leads UST, as the former has two gold and two silver medals, and the latter has two golds and two bronze medals.

For the women's division, UE claimed the lone discipline schedule, as they dominated against the UP, 45-29.

Andrea Matias outscored Nami Noro, 9-4, to convert an 11-13 deficit into a 20-17 lead and the Lady Warriors never looked back. scoring the necessary five points each from their next five matchups by her teammates Queen Dalmacio, and Eytria Olarte to clinch the title.

The Fighting Maroons still maintain hold on first place with a 2-1-2 tally, just edging out the defending champions by a single bronze.

Hosts UST are still in third with a silver and two bronze medals.

In the high school ranks, UE officially locked in the boys division by winning both events scheduled.

The quartet of Von Gale, Louie Shoemaker, Aljor Contado, and Ruzel Gallano defeated Angel Aberilla, Nathaniel Bernal, Armand Putian, and Christian Sarmineto, 30-29. Gallano locked in the title for the Junior Warriors by matching Armand Putian's eight points in their matchup.

Charles Babatio, Christian Concepcion, and Khiane Felipe took their turns in mastering Ateneo, 45-20.

La Salle-Zobel took bronzes in both events, sharing the epee with Ateneo and the sabre with UST.

In the lone discipline for the girls' division, La Salle-Zobel claimed the gold medal, fending off UE, 45-44 and preventing the Junior Warriors from potentially sweeping all high school disciplines.

With Opao Catantan giving UE a 30-24 lead after outpointing Venice Villenas, 8-1, La Salle-Zobel countered with an 11-2 burst from Martina Baccay against Willa Galvez to retake the lead at 35-32.

Villenas bounced back with a 5-4 result against Aubrey Fernandez, and in a mini-rematch from the individual final, Miyake Capina held off a game effort from Catantan to secure the gold.