POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (November 12, 2023) – Fresh off a strong showing on the individual front at the NEIFC Fall Invitational, the Sacred Heart University men's fencing team got off to a solid start in team competition on Sunday, at the Vassar Invitational. The Pioneers went 6-2 across eight rounds on the day and posted winning records in all three weapons. Dom Bartolo (Selden, N.Y.) chalked up the most wins for SHU, with a 15-8 record in the sabre, while David Belluomo posted an impressive, 14-4 mark in foil competition.
 
Sacred Heart got off on the wrong foot with a 17-10 loss to Johns Hopkins, but bounced back immediately with a 26-1 romp over Yeshiva. The Pios blanked the Maccabees in both sabre and epee, led by sweeps from Vijay Ganta (Warren, N.J.) and Jeff Palma (Rockaway, N.J.), respectively.
 
The Pios took the foil from Yale, 5-4, but struggled in the other two disciplines in an 18-9 loss to the Bulldogs, and then ran the table the rest of the day, beginning with an 18-9 win over Wagner. The victory over the Seahawks was powered by an 8-1 showing in the foil, including a sweep from Belluomo, while Frank Eke chalked up a sweep in the epee as well.
 
Next up was Hunter College and another 26-1 rout. The sabre and epee squads were unbeaten once again, with Bartolo leading the way with a sweep on the sabre strip.
 
Round 6 found the Pios in their most tightly-contested matchup of the day, as they squeaked past Stevens, 15-12. An 8-1 margin in the foil made the difference, as Belluomo and Chaissen Costello (Tiverton, R.I.) both put together sweeps of the Ducks.
 
"I'm happy with foil's performance throughout the day; they really stepped up to the plate and carried the team to most of our wins, including David [Belluomo] clinching the 14^th critical bout to win against Stevens," said head coach Khristopher White after the competition, regarding a foil squad which won seven of its eight matchups on the day. "They learned a hard lesson today about staying focused as Haverford caught them cold in the end. Hopefully they are able to keep improving, so we are ready for our conference meet next week."
 
The sabre squad carried the load the rest of the day, with 7-2 showings against both Drew and Haverford, to lead the Pios to 18-9 and 16-11 victories, respectively. Bartolo – who won his final seven bouts of the day – was unbeaten on the sabre strip in the final two rounds. Patrick Simpson (Bellingham, Mass.) added a sweep in the epee against Drew, while Damian Nguyen did the same against Haverford.
 
In all, SHU chalked up records of 44-28 in the sabre, 46-23 in the foil and 42-27 in the epee across the Vassar Invitational. Bartolo (15-8), Matteo Villarreal (Dyer, Ind.) (12-8), and Ganta (11-10) all posted double-digit victories in the sabre. Belluomo had the most-impressive day, record-wise, of all Pios, with a 14-4 showing in the foil, where Bartel added an 11-6 mark of his own and Costello was 9-7. On the epee strip, Nguyen chalked up a 12-7 record, while Eke was 8-5 and Simpson was 7-5.
 
White had praise for the first-year Nguyen, in particular, after things wrapped up. "Every bout Damian fenced today was a fight; win or loss, he gave every bout his all, and at the end of the day, the top thing I look is if they left everything on the strip," said the head coach. "All of the epee guys faced struggles today, but Damian was the only one to find some consistency across all his bouts."
 
Sacred Heart is back in action next Sunday, when it travels to Boston College for the Northeast Fencing Conference #1 tournament in Chestnut Hill, Mass.