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UAAP: Green, Lady Fencers place fourth

The DLSU Green Fencers and Lady Fencers both finished fourth in the UAAP Season 77 Fencing Tournament held at the UP Diliman College of Human Kinetics last December 4 to 7. The Green Fencers managed to snag one silver medal and two bronze medals, while the Lady Fencers brought home two bronze medals.

The University of the East once again dominated the competition, winning their third straight title. Following them, were top catalysts UST taking second and UP garnering third place.

With one silver medal from the Men’s Individual Epee event courtesy of team captain Raymund Orozco and two bronze medals in the team events, the Green Fencers were forced to step down two places as compared to their performance last season.

Orozco, accompanied by fellow fencing veteran Gian Franco Rodriguez put up tough matches against dominating teams UE and UST. However, their various efforts fell short in order to lift up the Taft-based squad. “So far compared [to] last year, medyo bumaba ang Men’s namin. I think hindi masyadong satisfying kasi we could have given more. Mas marami pa siguro kami dapat ilabas nun and kulang pa,” Orozco comments.
Repeating last year’s medal count, the Lady Fencers once again managed to grab two bronze medals this season: one individual and one team. But based on their performance and their hits scored index, they managed to secure the fourth spot in the women’s division, improving on last year’s finish.
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Entering this season, the Lady Fencers struggled to gain ground early on as the ended the first day without a medal after being beaten by UE. In the second day, they were able to make a breakthrough by ending the day with a bronze medal to their name. On the other hand, they were unlucky in their team event against Ateneo the next day where they took the lead after being by down as many as 10 points but didn’t manage to finish them off. Fortunately, they were able to bounce back on the last day of the tournament as they won the bronze medal in the Epee team event. The team consisted of Mika Castilo, Din Tianzon, Justine Lim, and May Montenegro.

DLSU coach Ramil Endriano talks about his team’s performance this season, “Siyempre yung inaasahan naming result, medyo hindi namin nakuha ngayon. Kagaya ng men’s epee team kasi dun kami may malaking chance na makakagold talaga eh kaya lang unfortunately, natalo kami against UE by one point lang so sobrang dun kami nanghina.”
He continues and discusses the struggles of the women’s team and how their lack of players has really weighed them down this season. “Aminado naman kami sa babae [women’s team], kulang talaga kami ng fencer eh. Yung ibang fencer namin ng ibang weapon, ginagamit namin sa iba at hindi naman nila linya so yun talaga ang mahirap.” comments Endriano. Despite their finish this year, he is hopeful about next year’s competition because of the different players coming in to help the team. He also believes that there is still a reason to be happy with their experience this season, being something to learn from.

“Masaya kami kasi binigay naman ng mga bata yung performance and siyempre, nakita naman namin kung ano pa rin yung kailangang paghandaan next season,” says Endriano.

On a higher note, the team has developed a sense of urgency after learning their lessons this season. “I think yung pinakamagandang strategy for La Salle is to train harder for next term, which includes January. I think kailangan hindi lie-low ang training,” Orozco mentions his ideas on how DLSU could be a catalyst for next season.

Together with their rookies and brand new recruit, the Fencers are hoping to fulfill their dreams as champions of the collegiate fencing scene. “Besides the confidence, madedevelop yung puso namin to fight and yung knowledge namin to perform,” Orozco concludes.
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