The New York University men’s and women’s fencing teams hosted a quad meet at the John A. Paulson Center on February 25, welcoming Columbia University, Vassar College, and Sacred Heart University. The event also served as Senior Day for NYU, honoring nine student-athletes—Tyler Cho, Farr Dickson, Sophia Dondisch, William Lehr, Emily Luo, Claudia Meyer, Jerry Pan, Zara Sinha, and Matthew Zhou—who participated in their final home competition.
Head Coach Ben Bratton commented on the seniors’ contributions: “The seniors had a huge impact today. The team came out with a lot of energy,” he said. “Overall, all of the seniors did great and I am really proud of them.”
NYU began the meet against Columbia. The men’s team was defeated 16-11 but won the foil competition 5-4. Farr Dickson secured all three of his foil bouts while Anup Banerjee added two more wins. The women’s team lost 24-3; Katherine Chen and Lily Papadakis each won an epee bout and Sophia Dondisch earned a saber victory.
In their second match against Vassar College, NYU’s men won 21–6 and the women posted a 23–4 victory. The men’s squad swept the foil bouts and dropped only one sabre match; Anders Yu, Farr Dickson, and Anup Banerjee were undefeated in this round. For the women’s team, they swept foil bouts and performed strongly in sabre while picking up multiple épée wins. Dondisch and Rosemarie Benciu led in sabre while Azniv Basralian and Nina Prihodko contributed in épée.
Against Sacred Heart University in the final matchup of the night, NYU’s men achieved a 22–5 win by sweeping both épée and foil bouts along with key victories in sabre. Dickson remained undefeated throughout his last home appearance for NYU on Senior Day.
On the women’s side versus Sacred Heart, NYU swept sabre bouts with significant wins also coming from foil and épée weapons. Dondisch, Rosemarie Benciu, and Greta Yuan delivered strong performances across their respective events to lead NYU to victory.
The next competition for both teams will be at the NCAA Regional Championships scheduled for March 8 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.
