Ganta Captures Sabre Title, Men’s Fencing Hauls in Nine Medals at NEIFC Invitational

Saturday, November 4

Northampton, Mass.

Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics

Smith College

Photo by: ©Mark F. Conrad

Ganta Captures Sabre Title, Men’s Fencing Hauls in Nine Medals at NEIFC Invitational

11/5/2023 12:53:00 AM | Men's Fencing

Results

Pios claim three medals in each weapon

By: Matthew Janik

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (November 4, 2023) – It was a banner start to the season for the Sacred Heart University men's fencing team on Saturday at the NEIFC Fall Invitational, otherwise known as "The Big One", hosted by Smith College. Vijay Ganta (Warren, N.J.) claimed the gold medal in the sabre to lead the way as nine different Pioneers took home medals on the day.

The NEIFC Invitational features pool play for seeding purposes, followed by a knockout tournament in each weapon. Medals are awarded to the top eight in each event, which are those who reach the quarterfinals or better. For SHU, the nine medals represent a significant uptick from a year ago, as three Pios took home hardware from the 2022 Big One.

The epee was first up on Saturday, and Patrick Simpson (Bellingham, Mass.) led the way with a semifinal appearance. He went 5-1 out of Pool #7 to claim the 10^th seed and went on a dramatic run from there. After a 15-4 blowout win over WPI's Morgan Owen in the first round, Simpson survived back-to-back 15-14 matches, as he bettered his teammate Brennan Robins in the Round of 32 and UConn's Edward Russel in the Round of 16 to claim a quarterfinal spot. From there, Simpson sent another teammate out of the bracket, with a 15-9 win over Stephen Scapicchio (Franklin Lakes, N.J.), before falling to Wilson Zhu of MIT in the semifinal, 15-9.

Elsewhere in the epee, Damian Nguyen put together a 5-1 mark in pool play as well, to take the eighth seed. He coasted past URI's Evan Drach in the first round, 15-4, and edged Seth Wyatt of UMass in the second round, 14-13. A Round of 16 win over Devin Barnett of Boston University, 15-6, sent Nguyen to the quarterfinals, but Max Zhu of MIT ended his run there in fifth place, following a dramatic, 15-14 affair.

As for Scapicchio, he was the 15^th seed and posted wins over Christopher Hollenbeck of UMass (15-2), and his teammates Thomas Levchook (Freehold, N.J.) (15-3) and Ethan Logue (Pleasanton, Calif.) (15-12), before falling to Simpson in the quarterfinal.

In the foil, the Pios had three athletes in the semifinals or better, as Jacob Bartel (La Mesa, Calif.) was the runner-up, while David Belluomo and Chaissen Costello (Tiverton, R.I.) tied each other for third. Bartel rolled through his pool play, as he conceded just three touches while chalking up a 6-0 record on the way to a share of the third seed. A 15-1 win over UMass' Aaron Kielbasa, a 15-6 triumph over Northeastern's Thomas Ligh and a 15-5 win over teammate Gleb Syomichev (Westport, Conn.) got him through to the quarterfinal. Bartel eked out a 15-14 win over Henry Zhang of MIT, and did the same over Belluomo in a highly-competitive, all-SHU semifinal. Bartel was bettered only by Andy Zhang of MIT, who chalked up a 15-10 win in the final.

Meanwhile, Belluomo won all six of his pool matches as well, to take a share of the eighth seed. He cruised until he ran into Bartel, with wins over Martino Albanese of WPI (15-1), Griffith Werwa of Brandies (15-5), Gabriel Magidson of Stony Brook (15-5) and top-seeded Varun Gupta of Northeastern (15-9).

As for Costello, he won his six pool matches by a combined 30-3 margin and then had to dispatch his own teammate, Julian Matos in the first round, 15-1. Costello, who shared the third seed, took care of UConn's Yuki Askew, 15-3, New Hampshire's Jonah Gesenburg, 15-7, and Vassar's Benjamin Lee, 15-12, to make his way through to the semifinal. MIT's Zhang put a stop to the run with a 15-9 victory there.

Finally came the sabre, where the Pios broke through for a gold medal. Ganta breezed through pool play with a 6-0 record and laid claim to the third seed. From there, he had a first-round bye and rolled to a 15-2 win over Red Hoffmann of Northeastern in the second round. A 15-9 win over Dylan Quirk of UMass got Ganta to the Round of 16, where he tallied a 15-11 victory over teammate Kyle Cheung. In his quarterfinal, he got the better of Brandeis' Joy Qiu, 15-8, before facing a stern test in the semifinals, where he squeaked past Joshua Lo of Northeastern, 15-13. The final was highly competitive as well, with Ganta needing to gut out a 15-14 triumph over Justin Zhou of MIT.

Dom Bartolo (Selden, N.Y.) and Mateo Villarreal (Dyer, Ind.) also brought home medals in the sabre after quarterfinal appearances. Both were a perfect 6-0 in pool bouts, with Bartolo tying for the fourth seed and Villarreal taking the seventh. Bartolo had a first-round bye and then scored 15-3 and 15-5 wins in the second and third rounds, respectively, before taking care of Boston University's Christopher McMahon, 15-8, in the Round of 16. His run came to a close in the quarterfinals, with a 15-11 loss at the hands of Zhou

Meanwhile, from the seventh spot in the bracket, Villarreal also had a first-round bye, and used 15-5 and 15-9 triumphs to make his way into the Round of 16. A 15-7 win over Christopher Allum of BU set up a quarterfinal match with the second-seeded Lo, 15-8.

SHU is back in action next weekend, with a Sunday trip to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for the Vassar Invitational on Nov. 12.