CF360: Your one-stop resource for college fencing information — past, present and future.

By Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com)

Notre Dame junior Avery Zuck (left) emerged from the pool rounds at the Penn State Open as the top seed and went on to post four more wins to win the title.

Two fencers currently listed in the top-10 of the USFA national men's sabre rankings – Notre Dame junior All-American Avery Zuck (Beaverton, Ore.) and Harvard sophomore Valentin Staller (Old Field, N.Y.) – met in the men's sabre final bout at the recent Penn State Open (Nov. 22), with Zuck posting the 15-10 victory. Unlike in the earlier women's events – when several of the top seeds failed to reach the semifinals or title bouts – both of the top-two seeds advanced all the way through the direct-elimination, as Zuck had claimed the #1 seed (42-fencer field) following his strong showing in the pool bouts, while Staller was the #2.

Avery Zuck (pictured on the right of this photo) narrowly missed the NCAA semifinals eight months earlier (also at Penn State), finishing 5th ('09 NCAAs photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).

Zuck – who placed 5th at the 2008 Penn State Open (14th in '07) – opened the DE by beating ND teammate Anthony Schlehuber (#16 seed; so.; Carmel, Ind.) in a 15-10 bout. He then outlasted Harvard freshman Thomas Kolasa (Princeton, N.J.) in a 15-12 quarterfinal, followed by a challenging semifinal vs. Penn State sophomore and 2009 NCAA champion Aleksander Achocki (Clark, N.J.). Zuck (a 5th-place finisher at the '09 NCAA, also held at PSU) was able to win that bout, 15-11, against the 5th-seeded Ochocki, before topping Staller in the title bout.

Harvard sophomore Valentin Staller (pictured at '09 NCAAs), one of the nation's up-and-coming young sabreists, reached the title bout at the 2009 Penn State Open (photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).

Staller (9th at '08 PSU Open; 15th at '09 NCAAs) surrendered only 12 points in his first two DE bouts, posting an easy 15-3 win over Penn State sophomore Bobby Thompson (#15 seed; Portland, Ore.) before a 15-9 quarterfinal bout vs. 10th-seeded Princeton junior John Stogin (Wilmette, Ill.). Penn State had another fencer – junior Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) – reach the semifinals, but Staller registered a 15-10 win over the 6th-seeded Bak (the defending champion at this event and the '07 runner-up). The PSU teammates then met in the 3rd-place but, with Bak edging Ochocki in a 15-13 decision (reversing their '09 NCAA semifinal, held at PSU, which Ochocki won by the same score).

The Penn State duo of sophomore Aleksander Ochocki (left) and Daniel Bak (right) – pictured during 2009 NCAA round-robin action – met in the third-place bout at the recent Penn State Open ('09 NCAAs photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).

Bak – an NCAA semifinalist in '08 and '09 – had an easy 15-6 win over Notre Dame Jason Choy  (#11 seed; Basking Ridge, N.J.) in the round-of-16, followed by a 15-10 quarterfinal vs. ND junior Barron Nydam (#14 seed; Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) in a matchup between two-time All-Americans. Ochocki (3rd at '08 PSU Open) also had a comfortable win to open the DE, winning 15-7 vs. Princeton senior Thomas Abend (#12 seed; Carlisle, Mass.) before a closer bout in a 15-11 quarterfinal vs. 13th-seeded Yale freshman Colin Mills (Boston, Mass.).

Harvard freshman Thomas Kolasa (left) joined teammate Valentin Staller as a top finisher at the Penn State Open, placing fifth.

The other round-of-16 bouts went as follows: Harvard's Kolasa edgeed 8th-seeded ND sophomore Keith Feldman (Stony Brook, N.Y.) in a 15-14 bout ... Princeton's Stogin defeated Ohio State junior Robert Douville (#7 seed; Fayetteville, Ga.), 15-11 ... Yale's Mills posted a 15-10 win over ND freshman William McGough (#4 seed; Bronxville, N.Y.), with Notre Dame's Nydam winning by the same score, vs. sophomore teammate Marcel Frenkel (#3 seed; Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Notre Dame two-time All-American Barron Nydam (pictured at left, during action at the 2009 NCAAs) stumbled in the Penn State Open pool round and was unable to make a return to the title bout (placed 8th).

Nydam – who placed 6th at the '08 NCAAs and 10th in '09 – was runner-up at the Penn State Open in 2008, after placing 4th in '09. ... Stogin also was a 2009 NCAA participant (19th), with his previous two PSU Open finishes including 9th in '07 and 15th in '08. ... His teammate Abend now has participated in four Penn State Opens (22nd-10th-11th, from '06-'08), with Thompson placing 8th at the 2007 PSU Open while Frenkel (in '08) and Douville ('07) both finishing 17th in their previous appearances at this event.

Princeton junior John Stogin (left) – pictured during the 2009 NCAAs – reached the quarterfinals at the '09 PSU Open (photo by Pete LaFleur/CF360).

There was one other noteworthy men's sabre competitor at the 2009 Penn State Open, as North Carolina junior Kevin Zeichman (19th at '09 NCAAs) placed 21st. Several of the top collegiate men's sabreists – including seven of the 12 All-Americans from the '09 NCAAs – were noticeably absent, led by St. John's sophomore Darryl Homer (the '09 NCAA runner-up) and Columbia senior Jeff Spear ('08 NCAA champ). Others of note that were not among the participants: University of Pennsylvania senior Jon Berkowsky (6th at '09 NCAAs), Ohio State sophomore Max Stearns (6th), SJU sophomore Alejandro Rojas (11th), and the Stanford duo of juniors Lucas Janson (9th) and Max Murphy (12th).

North Carolina junior Kevin Zeichman (left) was one of several 2009 NCAA participants who returned to Penn State last week for the PSU Open.