The DLSU Green Fencers have capped-off their UAAP 76 run with a second place overall finish, with one gold and one silver, while the DLSU Lady Fencers ended the competition at fifth place overall with two bronze medals in the bag.
The Green Fencers, who have steadily climbed the ranks in the previous years, finished a notch higher than in the previous season. The Lady Fencers, however, have dropped two places from last year’s third place finish.
It was the well-played show of the Green Fencers that put them on top of the Team Epee category, earning them their only gold this season. Boosting the team’s rank was the second place finish of Gian Franco Rodriguez in the Men’s Epee category.
The Ladies’ team also took home a bronze in the Team Epee category. The second bronze medal was fruit of Chiara Nadinne Licono’s win in the Women’s Sabre category.
The players still believe that the team performed well, given the constraint of having less players in the roster, with several members being fielded in two or even all three weapon categories.
“Siguro kahit papano maganda napakita nung men’s team kahit pareho kami na fell short sa last day [I guess in one way or another, we still performed well, especially the men’s team, even if we fell short on the last day],” tells medalist Licono on the team’s overall performance.
“Kulang lang talaga kami sa players sa parehong team pero di naging hadlang yun para di kami lumaban. Ang maganda sa team na to e may puso kami. Buo loob namin sa laro kahit malalakas ang kalaban [We really lacked players in both teams but that didn’t stop us from really giving our all. What’s great about our team is that we have heart. We played with all we had in all our games even if our opponents were tough],” she says.
Team captain Rayd Orozco believes that the Green Fencers and Lady Fencers have more to offer, and tells that they will keep striving for improvement, “There are a lot of areas wherein we still have to improve on and this season has proved that even the strongest team can be defeated. We will surely bounce back next season.”
Dominating the competition were the UE Red Warriors and Lady Warriors, pulling a back-to-back double championship, after hauling in four out of the six gold medals in both the men’s and women’s division. The men’s team took home an additional two silvers and two bronzes, while the women’s team had one silver and three bronze medals.
In the men’s division, the ADMU Blue Eagles followed closely after the Green Fencers with one gold and two bronze medals to land them in third place. Joining UE, DLSU, and ADMU in the top four were the UP Fighting Maroons who raked in two silver medals and one bronze.
The UST Growling Tigers followed in fifth with a medal count of 0-1-4 (gold-silver-bronze), and the FEU Tamaraws were in sixth with 0-1-2. The NU Bulldogs fell to last place in the men’s category after failing to claim any medals.
Meanwhile, in the women’s division, UE’s win marks its eight consecutive championship in the UAAP Fencing tournament. the UST Tigresses followed the Lady Warriors with one gold, two silvers, and four bronzes. The FEU Lady Tamaraws and the ADMU Lady Eagles complete the women’s fencing final four with 1-0-3 and 0-2-1, respectively. Trailing DLSU and placing last in the women’s category were the UP Lady Maroons who finished with no medals under their belt.
