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The final day of the 2009 Junior World Championships (April 16) featured four different U.S. college fencers competing in the women's epee team event (the second-most collegians in any of the six weapons, trailing only the six in men's sabre). Notre Dame sophomore Eva Nelip proved to be the most successful of the 15 total U.S. collegians who competed in the '09 JWCs, as Nelip placed second in both the individual and team events for women's epee (Poland lost the gold-medal match by a single point, in overtime).

Another ND fencer, freshman Courtney Hurley, and Princeton freshman Susannah Scanlan played key roles in the third-place finish by the United States women's epee team, while Penn State freshman Nina Westman and her Sweden teammates placed eighth (a rundown of each team's matches follows below). Hurley was +11 in touches (49-38) during the four U.S. team matches, while Scanlan was -9 (45-54) and Westman won 11 of 20 touches (+2) in Sweden's two matches.

Hurley currently is ranked second among the world's under-20 women's epeeists, while Nelip is third, Scanlan 19th and Westman 25th.

Ewa Nelip (left)

Nelip – who has reached the NCAA semifinals in each of the past two seasons – won nearly 60% of the touches in her bouts (47-33) and finished the day +14, spanning top-seeded Poland's matches against #17 Czech Republic (45-31), #9 Sweden (45-36), #13 Hungary (45-25) and #2 Russia (44-45). She combined with countrywomen Dominika Mosler (who lost a 15-9 semifinal vs. Nelip), Katarzyna Dabrowa and Martyna Szymanska to form the Poland team that narrowly missed claiming the gold medal. 

During the round-of-16 win over the Czechs, Nelip was +6 in touches (15-9) – including 5-3 vs. Gabriela Vacinova in round-3, 5-5 vs. Dominika Doubova (rd-5) and 5-1 vs. Petra Myskova to break the match open (35-20) in round-7. The quarterfinal vs. Sweden was a tighter battle, with Nelip going +4 (9-5) while Westman was 5-7 in touches during her two bouts vs. Poland. 

Westman went 1-2 in round-1 vs. Poland's Mosler, followed by a 0-0 stalemate between Nelip and Sanna Gars in the second round. Two rounds later, Nelip edged Westman (5-4) as Poland extended to a 12-9 lead (Nelip also beat Westman by one touch, 4-3, in the '09 NCAAs). In round-7, Nelip inherited a 22-14 lead and pushed the cushion into double-digits following her 4-1 bout vs. Emma Vaggo (Nelip also beat Vaggo in the individual event, 5-2). Sweden then subbed in Johanna Bergdahl for Westman and round-8 produced a flurry of 32 points, with Bergdahl topping Dabrowa (18-14) to keep the Swedes alive (33-40) –  but Mosler closed out the win, 5-3 vs. Gars.

Hungary upset #5 Italy in another quarterfinal (45-42), but Poland proved to be too strong and rolled to a 20-point win over the Hunagarians in the semifinals. Nelip's +6 showing (13-7) included winning margins in all three of her bouts: 4-3 vs. Edina Antal (rd-2), 4-2 vs. Dorina Budai (rd-4) and 5-2 vs. Edina Bekefi (rd-7; making the team score 35-21).

The gold-medal bout produced a thrilling finish, befitting a matchup between the world's top two teams. All three of the Russian fencers – Violetta Kolobova (6th), Evgenia Seregina (10th) and Yana Zvereva (16th) – currently are ranked among the world's top under-20 women's epeeists (Seregina placed 5th in the '09 JWC individual event, while Kolobova was 10th). Nelip scored 10 touches vs. Russia but allowed 12, including a split in round-3 (4-4) vs. Seregina, leaving the Poles with a 10-8 lead. Nelip returned to the strip in round-5 and again split eight touches (for an 18-16 Russia lead), this time vs. Kolobova (who had lost to Nelip three days earlier, 11-15, in the round-of-16).

The see-saw match swung back in Poland's favor, following Mosler's 4-0 bout vs. Seregina, but Zvereva went 4-2 vs. Nelip (rd-7) for a 22-22 team score. Darya Pozharova then edged Dabrowa by one touch (8-7), giving the Russian's a 30-29 lead, and round-9 was more of them same as Mosler and Kolobova each scored 15 touches. Russia was on track to win in regulation (39-34, with 0:41 remaining) – but Mosler rallied to tie the score (44-44) with 0:06 on the clock (Kolobova scored the winning touch, 12 seconds into OT).

Courtney Hurley (left) 

Hurley's +11 day (49-38) helped the #6-ranked team USA post early wins over #11 Canada (35-26) and #3 Ukraine (45-35), along with the semifinal loss to #2 Russia (35-45) and a victorious third-place match vs. #13 Hungary (45-40). The win over Canada featured double-digit touches from Hurley (14-8) and Scanlan (10-5), with the other bouts fenced by high-schoolers Francesca Bassa (9-11) and Hannah Safford (2-2).

The Americans could have been derailed in the round-of-16, as Canada trailed by only three points (19-22) entering the ninth and final round. But Hurley proved her worth as the U.S. closer, going 13-7 vs. Gabrielle Lavoie to deliver the team victory. Hurley fenced only one other round vs. Canada (1-1 vs. 20th-place individual finisher Jannelle Mackoff , in rd-5), shortly after a solid pair of early rounds by Scanlan: 3-2 vs. Lavoie (rd-2) and 6-1 vs. Kinga Kovacs (rd-4; pushing team lead to 11-5). Scanlan later waged a defensive battle in round-7 vs. Janelle Mackoff, who won two of the three touches to slice Canada's deficit to 17-19. Bassa got the point back (3-2 vs. Kovacs) and Hurley then closed out the win.

Susannah Scanlan (left)

All three of the top U.S. epeeists – Hurley (10-6/+4), Scanlan (16-15/+1) and Bassa (19-14/+1) – played key roles in the upset win over a Ukraian team that included the world's top-ranked u-20 women's epeeist (Anfisa Pochkalova; an '09 JWS semifinailist) and Kseniya Pantelyeyeva, who placed 15th at the '09 JWCs. Hurley opened the match with a 5-2 bout vs. Pantelyeyeva, and Scanlan then turned in an impressive 5-1 showing against elite foe Pochkalova in round-2. Two rounds later, Scanlan split 12 touches with Pantelyeyeva (yielding a 20-12 score, in favor of the U.S.) and the margin stayed the same when Hurley and Olha Zadorozhna fenced to a scoreless stalemate in round-6. Zadorozhna did manage to outscore Scanlan in round-7 (8-5), but Hurley ultimately secured the 10-point team win by going 5-4 vs. Pochkalova in the final round.   

The U.S.-Russia match was tight through the middle rounds, until Kolobova doubled up Bassa in round-6 (12-6, for a 27-20 Russian lead). Hurley was -5 (7-12) in the semifinal – after going 2-1 vs. Seregina in round-1, 0-2 vs. Zvereva (rd-5) and 5-6 vs. Kolobova in the final round – while Scanlan (14-17/-3) outscored Seregina in round-4 (3-0; 14-13 team lead), in addition to fencing against Kolobova (5-9; rd-2) and Zvereva (6-8; rd-7).

Hungary – despite having no top-20 fencers on its team – had an impressive showing in the JWC team event, with a quarterfinal win over Italy and near-victory over the U.S. The third-place match was tied entering the final round (35-35), which then featured another strong closing effort by Hurley (10-5, vs. Edina Antal) that secured bronze medals for the Americans. Hurley was +6 (18-12) vs. the Hungarians, while Scanlan went -4 in two bouts (5-9), Bassa split her 34 touches (17-17) and Safford had a key 5-2 opening bout (vs. Antal).

Hurley matched Safford's effort in round-2 (5-2 vs. Edina Bekefi, for a 10-4 team score), but Hungary cut into the lead when Dorina Budai went 7-5 vs. Bassa and Bekefi outscored Scanlan, 6-5 (leaving the U.S. margin at 20-17). The teams then traded 5-3 bouts – with Bassa besting Antal; Budai out-touching Hurley – and the match remained a three-point battle, after Bassa and Bkefi split 14 touches in round-7. Budai's shutout of Scanlan (3-0) produced a 35-35 score, setting up the dramatic final round for Hurley and Antal.

Nina Westman (left)

Sweden opened the team competition with a classic defensive battle vs. 8th-ranked Germany, as neither team reached 20 touches (the Swedes eked out a 17-16 win). Westman was a key part of the victory, after winning six touches and surrendering only two: 0-0 vs. Sina Dostert (rd-1), rd-4  2-2 vs. Cheryl Jahn (rd-4) and 4-0 vs. Ricarda Multerer (rd-8). Germany owned a 9-7 lead entering round-8, but Westman turned Sweden's two-point deficit into a two-point lead (11-9). Sweden's Sanne Gars and Germany's Sina Dostert met in the final round, with Dostert winning five of the first eight touches for a 14-14 score. Gars put Sweden back in the lead with 59 seconds left in the round, Dostert re-tied the score four seconds later and a double-touch (0:36) sent the bout into overtime – with Gars scoring the final touch 19 seconds into OT.

Monday's final day of action at the Junior World Championships featured six U.S. collegians  and produced some thrilling finishes, in the men's foil and women's epee competition. Most notably, Notre Dame's Gerek Meinhardt and Penn State's Miles Chamley-Watson led the United States men's foil team to a runner-up finish while ND sophomore Ewa Nelip and her Poland teammates lost the women's epee gold-medal bout on a touch in overtime (vs. Russia). The U.S. women's epeeists – featuring ND freshman Courtney Hurley and Princeton freshman Susannah Scanlan – won the third-place matchup, while Penn State freshman Nina Westman and her Sweden teammates ended up in eighth place.

Meinhardt went 57-48 (+11) in touches and Chamley-Watson was 47-44 (+3) during the four U.S. men's foil matches on Monday, which included wins over #18  Egypt (45-38), #10 Japan (45-26) and #2 Russia (43-42), plus the gold-medal loss to top-ranked Italy (45-34). Meinhardt and Russia's Dmitry Zherebchenko traded 12 touches in the ninth and final round of that semifinal showdown, with Meinhardt then scoring the final point in overtime.

Check back to the CF360 blog later tonight for complete details from today's action.

BELFAST – Four U.S. college fencers competed in Friday's women's epee competition at the Junior World Championships, led by a runner-up finish for Notre Dame sophomore Ewa Nelip (competing for her native Poland). Two members of the U.S. team – ND freshman Courtney Hurley (11th) and Princeton freshman Susannah Scanlan (16th) – also finished in the top-16, while Penn State freshman Nina Westman (Sweden) placed 36th.

The Notre Dame duo of Hurley and Nelip now are listed 2-3 on the FIE world under-20 women's epee rankings (Hurley entered the tournament #2, while Nelip was 14th). Westman was ranked 12th prior to the Junior Worlds (now 25th), while Scanlan moved up from 24th to 19th.

NELIP (Katowice, Poland) – who has reached the NCAA semifinals in each of the past two years – opened the '09 Junior Worlds by winning all five of her bouts in pool-13 (+11)., highlighted by a 5-2 bout with Sweden's Emma Vaggo (who entered the week ranked 20th among the world's u-20 women's epeeists). Her other opening bouts included a 5-3 victory over Latvia's Anastasija Trjasko, plus 5-1 wins over Croatia's Roberta Ilijasev, Canada's Gabrielle Lavoie    Canada and  the USA's Francesca Bassa.

During her run through the direct-elimination (in the 102-fencer field), Nelip turned in large victory margins against Japan's Mikako Fukuda (15-5) and Croatia's Toncica Topic (15-3), followed by an impressive 15-11 victory over the world's top-ranked u-20 women's epeeist (Russia's Violetta Kolobova). She then topped South Korea's Soon Hwa Lee  in the quarterfinals (15-9) and beat Poland teammate Dominika Mosler by the same score, before losing the gold-medal bout to China's  Yujie Sun (5-15).

HURLEY (San Antonio, Texas) – a 2009 NCAA semifinalist – lost only one of her pool-2 bouts (5-1/+13), dropping a one-touch bout to Switzerland's Laura Stahli. She also survived a 1-0 defensive battle with Ukraine's  Kseniya Pantel Yeyeva (the eventual 15th-place finisher), adding a shutout win over the Netherlands' Amber Hoogendoorn, 5-2 victories over Israel's Avital Marniuk and Brazil's Rayssa Costa, and a 5-3 bout with Japan's Mikako Fukuda. She followed with DE wins over South Korea's Ji Seon Kim (15-5) and Germany's Cheryl Jahn (15-9), with her day ending in the round-of-16 with a one-point loss (14-15) to Estonia standout Julia Zuikova (ranked 5th in world; placed 8th).  

SCANLAN (St. Paul, Minn.) split her six bout in pool-9 (even on indicators), with her top win coming 5-4 against Estonia's Erika Kirpu (ranked 10th in world; placed 13th). She also turned in early victories over Egypt's Sara Abd El Aziz (5-3) and Singapore's Cheryl Lim (5-2) – with her losses coming against Venezuela's Patrizia Piovesan Silva (4-5), Great Britain's Caitlin Chang (2-5) and Canada's Jannelle Mackoff (3-5; Mackoff placed 20th). Her DE bouts featured wins over China's Anqi Xu (15-14) and Slovakia's Dagmar Baranikova (15-7), before losing in the round-of-16 to the eventual champion Sun of China (9-15).

WESTMAN (Kalmar, Sweden) turned in a 5-1 record in pool-11 (+7), thanks to three different 5-4 wins: vs. Portugal's Ines Santos, the Czech Republic's Gabriela Vacinova  and South Africa's Giselle Vicatos. She also posted a 5-2 win over Russia 's Yana Zvereva (the eventual 24th-place finisher) and topped Argentina's Melisa Lar Englert Urrutia (5-1), with her loss coming against Tunisia's Sarra Besbes   Tunisia (19th-place finisher). Westman then suffered a one-touch loss in the DE, losing 14-15 to Finland's Catharina Kock.

BELFAST – Columbia University sophomore Nicole Ross – a two-time All-American who placed third at the 2008 NCAAs (5th in '09) – paced the United States women's foil team to an impressive gold-medal finish today at the Junior World Championships. Ross (New York, N.Y.) went 18-5 over her final two rounds, helping the U.S. overcome an early 11-16 deficit and go on to defeat Italy in the gold-medal match (45-40). Elite high-school-aged fencers Nzigha Prescod and Lee Kiefer joined Ross in the  championship effort.

Nicole Ross (left)

The title showdown yielded a battle between the world's top-ranked u-20 women's foil teams (Italy #1, U.S. #2), with Prescod ranked #2 individually while Italy's three feners occupy the 3-4-5 spots: Martina Batini, Alice Volpi and Valentina DeCostanzo (Ross currently is #23 and Kiefer 33rd). In Wednesday's individual competition, Volpi finished as the runner-up, Badini reached the semifinals, Prescod was 9th, Ross 9th, DeCostanzo 12th and Kiefer 18th.

Kiefer won four of the five final points vs. Volpi in Saturday's round-4, cutting Italy's lead to 15-17. Prescod then maintained the two-point deficit (20-22), after splitting 10 touches against DeCostanzo in round-5. Ross – who was -2 earlier in the day vs. DeCostanzo – then thrust the U.S. into the lead, going 9-3 vs. Batini for a 29-25 team score.

DeCostanzo continued to fence well in round-7, despite yielding the first two touches to Kiefer (moving the U.S. lead to 31-25). It initially appeared that Kiefer won a third point as well, but the point instead was awarded to DeCostanzo – who ulimately won the final six points of the round for a 31-31 score.

Ross took to the strip in round-8 and dominated Volpi (9-2) before handing off a 40-34 cushion to Prescod. Batini scored the first two touches, but Prescod answered with four straight to leave the Americans one point away from the title (44-36). Things got a little tense when Batini rattled off four straight, but Prescod closed out the win with 1:09 left on the clock.

Ross led all fencers by going +11 in the gold-medal match (Kiefer was -2, Prescod -4), while DeCostanzo was +6 for the Italians.

Team USA earlier had defeated the Czech Republic (#18 seed) in the round-of-16 (45-13) and topped #7 Poland in the quarterfinals (45-22), followed by a 45-34 semifinal win over #3 Russia (Italy edged #5 France, 45-39, in the other semifinal).

In earlier action on Saturday, the 6th-seeded U.S. men's sabre team placed seventh, following a 37-45 loss to #3 South Korea. The U.S. squad features three college fencers: St. John's freshman Darryl Homer and the Notre Dame sophomore duo of Avery Zuck and Barron Nydam.

Sunday's schedule features team competition in men's epee and women's sabre, followed by the men's foil and women's epee events on Monday.

BELFAST – Friday's action at the Junior World Championships featured the final individual events, with six U.S. college fencers in action. Two elite entrants from Notre Dame – women's epeeist Ewa Nelip (Katowice, Poland) and men's foilist Gerek Meindardt (San Francisco, Calif.) – both reached the medal rounds of their respective weapons, with Nelip finishing as the runner-up while Meinhardt lost in the semifinals.

Women's epee featured the second-most U.S. college fencers (4) of any weapon at this event, trailing only the five entered in men's sabre. Team USA members Courtney Hurley (ND; 11th) and Susannah Scanlan (Princeton; 16th) both reached the women's epee round-of-16, with Penn State's Nina Westman (Sweden) placing 36th. Another Penn State fencer, men's foilist Miles Chamley-Watson, nearly reached the round-of-16 and ended up in 10th place.

Each of the fencers listed above will be in action on Monday, in the team portion of the event. Check back to the blog for complete details recapping the U.S. collegian bouts from the past two days (see post below for info. from Wednesday's men's sabre and women's foil competition).

An assortment of (at least) 15 collegiate fencers are in the process of competing at the 2009 Junior World Championships, a six-day event being held in Ireland at the Jordanstown campus (seven miles outside of Belfast). CF360 has been able to confirm 15 fencers from U.S. college varsity programs who are competing in this elite event, with those 15 including 11 on the United States team, plus one each from Brazil, Canada, Poland and Sweden.

Through the first two days of individual competition (women's foil, men's epee, and men's and women's sabre), four U.S. college fencers have placed in the top-16 - led by a bronze-medal finish for St. John's freshman men's sabreist Daryl Homer (pictured). Other top-16 finishers include Columbia sophomore women's foilist Nicole Ross (9th), Harvard freshman women's sabreist Caroline Vloka (10th) and Notre Dame sophomore men's sabreist Avery Zuck (16th). A couple weeks ago, Homer and Vloka both finished as NCAA runner-up in their respective weapons (Zuck placed fifth in the round-robin standings, narrowly missing a spot in the medal round).

Wednesday's two-weapon action (men's sabre/women's foil) featured at least six college fencers doing battle on the world stage. Notre Dame's Barron Nydam joined his classmate Zuck and SJU's Homer in comprising the three U.S. entrants, with Nydam placing 33rd. Two other college men's sabreists were among the 99-fencer field, as competitors for other countries: Ohio State's Max Stearns (Canada; placed 24th) and ND freshman Marcel Frenkel (Brazil; 58th). Stearns earned All-America honors at the 2009 NCAAs (8th-place), as did Nydam after placing 10th.

Ross (pictured), like Nydam, is a two-time All-American, after placing third at the 2008 NCAAs and fifth in '09.

Earlier today, Vloka was joined in the 80-fencer women's sabre field by Penn State freshman Monica Aksamit (who placed 29th), while Stanford freshman Kevin Mo finished 26th in the huge 142-fencer men's epee event. Aksamit nearly fenced in the NCAA medal round, still earning All-America status thanks to her 5th-place finish (Mo, the 2008 Junior World Cup circuit champion, placed 17th in the NCAA men's epee competition).

Friday's final day of the individual competition will feature at least four college fencers in the women's epee event - the ND duo of freshman Courtney Hurley and sophomore Ewa Nelip (Poland), Princeton freshman Susannah Scanlan, and PSU freshman Nina Westman (PSU) – plus ND freshman Gerek Meinhardt and PSU freshman Miles Chamley-Watson in the men's foil competition. The tournament then will close with three days of team competition: m-sabre/w-foil on Sat., m-epee/w-sabre on Sun., and m-foil/w-epee on Mon.

HOMER (Bronx, N.Y.) – who now is ranked fifth in the world among junior-level/under-20 men's sabreists – won all five of his opening bouts in pool-`` (+17 on indicators), His most noteworthy pool win came against Ukraine's Dmytro Pundyk (5-2), who now holds a #17 world ranking after placing 13th in Belfast. Homer also posted opening-round wins vs. Kazakhstan's Alexander Prikholdko (5-0), Belgium's Servaas Breyne (5-3), Indonesia's Hendre Eko Bzediantyo (5-2) and Israel's Serhiy Maslakov (5-1). Prikhodko ultimately placed 27th while the other three finished outside the top-55.

In the direct-elimination phase, Homer rolled to a 15-3 win over Bulgaria's Lyuboslav Burney before battling a pair of fencers currently ranked in the world's top-20: #18 Ivan Ainkin of Russia (15-13) and #19 Aliaksei Likhachen of Belgium (15-10). He moved on to a quaterfinal/round-of-8 showdown with current world #8 Csaba Gall of Hungary, yielding a tense bout that saw Homer emerge with the 15-14 win. Hungary's Aron Szilagyi (now #3 in the world U-20 rankings) awaited in the semifinals and Homer held an 8-5 lead at the break, but Szilagyi rattled off 10 of the next 11 touches for the 15-9 win. Germany's Max Hartung (now #4) ended up claiming the gold, while Russia's Boris Savich (the world's #1-ranked u-20 men's sabreist) was the other semifinalist.

ZUCK (Portland, Ore.) – now ranked 12th among the world's U-20 msn's sabreists – went 4-2/+9 in pool-6, with one of his losses coming against eventual 7th-place finisher (and world #6-ranked) Stefano Sbragia of Italy (2-5). Zuck also dropped a 5-2 bout to Aliaksandr Abramivich (Belarus), while adding wins over France's Paul Jobin (5-2), the Czech Republic's Radek Brodil, Hong Kong's Chak Man Chow and Argentin's Guido Eduardo Mulero (all 5-1). Zuck went on to post DE wins over Austria's Matthias Willan (15-9) and South Korea's Dong Ho Choi (15-11) before losing in the round-of-16 to the world's top-ranked u-20 men's sabreist, Savich of Russia (10-15).

STEARNS – who holds Canadian citizenship but currently resides in Minneapolis, Minn. – turned in a 4-2 record (+8) in pool-7, with a 0-5 loss to Hungary's Szilagyi (world #3 and eventual runner-up) while also losing 2-5 to South Korea's Choi (17th-place finisher). Stearns posted a win over eventual 29th-place fiinisher Alexei Romanovitch of Belarus (5-1), also winning by the same score vs. Azerbaijan's Yusif Budagov while shutting out Costa rica's Jose Pablo Vargas Fernandez and topping Robert Goosens (Netherlands) in a 5-2 bout.  

NYDAM (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) – now #9 in the world u-20 rankings – breezed through pool-8 (5-0/+19) while facing a group of fencers who umltimaltey finished between 38th and 81st in the standings. He shut out the Czech Republic's Petr Wachsberger and posted 5-1 wins over two fencers (Kuwait's Ammar Dashti and Iceland's Saever Baldur Ludviksson), also adding a 5-3 win over France's Romain Miramon and outlasing Brazil's Tywilliam Guzenski (5-4). Nydam was quickly derailed in the DE, losing a 12-15 bout against Ukranian upstart Andrey Trinkal (who went on to place 8th).

FRENKEL (Sao Paulo, Brazil) went 2-3/-4 in pool-10, losing to a pair of top opponents in Germany's Benedikt Wagner (1-5; placed 5th, now #7 in the world) and 20th-place finisher Baptista Gans of France (2-5). Fremkel also lost a one-touch bout to China's Jie Wu, with pool wins over Austria's Gilbert Schwartz (5-4) and Israel's Dani Flomen (5-2). He added a DE win over Czech entry Radek Brodil (15-8) before being knocked ou by South Korea's Bon-Gil Gu (3-15).

ROSS (New York, N.Y.) – now listed 23rd in the FIE world u-20 women's foil rankings – won all six of her bouts in pool-14 (+24), with her top win in the opening phase coming against Poland's Marta Lycbinsky (placed 21st; now ranked #7 in the world). Ross also posted early wins over China's Fang Mo (5-1; placed 27th), Romania's Ioana Adrianna Dumitra (5-0; placed 30th), Great Britain's Phillip Mullins (5-1), Croatia's Ana Mestrovic (5-3) and Turkmenistan's Janet Achilova (5-0).

CF360 will have more coverage from the Junior World Championships – including quotes and photos, if they become available. (If you are aware of other college fencers competing for foreign countries, please drop CF360 a quick email: editor@colllegefencing360.com).

Some more exclusive NCAA video to pass along – fast-moving women's sabre action from the medal round, highlighting the final two bouts for champion Becca Ward:

CLICK HERE   for NCAA semifinal between Daria Schneider and Becca Ward

CLICK HERE   for NCAA final between Caroloine Vloka and Becca Ward

Duke freshman Becca Ward (the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist) lost only a handful of bouts throughout the college season, capped by her victory at the NCAAs. Ward went 22-1 in the NCAA round-robin (her only loss came vs. another top freshman, Penn State's Monica Aksamit) and then faced a big challenge in the semifinals, vs. Columbia junior and '07 NCAA champion Daria Schneider (that bout was tied 8-8, but Ward won seven of the final eight points for a 15-9 win). She then faced yet another elite rookie, Harvard's Caroline Vloka, in the title bout – and Ward closed with a dominating 15-4 victory.