The DLSU Green Fencers ranked second behind seven-peat champions UE Red Warriors in the overall medal tally of the UAAP Season 81 Fencing Tournament held at the Victoria Sports Tower in Quezon City last November 22 to 25. In the women’s division, the ADMU Lady Eagles broke the UE Lady Warriors’ 12-time winning streak, while the DLSU Lady Fencers placed fourth.
Day one
In the opening day of the tournament, the duo of Darylle Lumahan and Peter Nieto represented the Green-and-White in the men’s individual épée while the pair of John Gajon and David Lumahan participated in the men’s sabre. As for the women’s foil, Lady Fencers Patricia Eusebio and Divine Romero played for DLSU. All six athletes managed to advance to the quarterfinals of their respective events.
The men’s épée finals pitted Dar. Lumahan against Sammuel Tranquilan who won against DLSU’s Nieto earlier in the tournament. Dar. Lumahan gave it his all but Tranquilan’s experience proved to be the deciding factor as La Salle settled for second place, while UE achieved the gold medal behind Tranquilan’s 15-10 victory.
The quarterfinals of the individual sabre tournament of the Men’s division saw teammates David Lumahan and Gajon face each other, as the former rose as the victor, 15-11. Afterwards, Red Warrior Tranquilan faced Dav. Lumahan in the semis. Unfortunately, La Salle settled for bronze after Dav. Lumahan bowed to Tranquilan, 15-10, eliminating the Lasallian from the competition.
UE eventually grabbed it’s second gold medal after Red Warrior Christian Concepcion won against fellow Red Warrior Tranquilan, 15-8, in the finals of the individual men’s sabre event.
Similar to the tableau of eighth match of the Green Fencers in the men’s sabre contest, Lady Fencer Eusebio fought teammate Romero. A 15-8 victory by Romero allowed her to advance into the semifinals where she faced UE Lady Warrior Anne Baring.
Overpowering Baring, 15-2, Romero reached the finals of the women’s foil and battled against ADMU Lady Eagle Maxine Esteban. Romero then gave La Salle it’s second silver medal of the day after falling short against Esteban, 15-7.
Day two
On the second day, both the Green and Lady Fencers failed to advance for a medal finish in the men’s foil and the women’s sabre and épée, respectively. Eusebio was dominated by Elvielyn Javinar of UE with a 15-0 score line for the women’s sabre, but it was Esteban of ADMU who prevailed in the category over Allaine Cortey of UE in the finals match.
After facing each other in the first round, Lady Fencer Romero beat her fellow teammate, Nichole Apacible. Although, Romero was not able to overcome UST’s Marielle Peralta who was hailed as the winner in the women’s épée after a tight finals match against Mickyle Bustos of UE, 15-14.
In the first round of the men’s foil classification, DLSU Green Fencers Psalm Co and Jose Mercado bowed to John Concepcion and Tranquilan of UE, respectively. The two Red Warriors turned out as the finals contenders, with Tranquilan snatching the gold in the category.
Day three
The team of Gajon, Joshua Lee, Dav. Lumahan, and Vincent Tibus competed in the men’s team sabre event for DLSU. Green Fencers Nieto, Dar. Lumahan, Mercado, and Hadj Satinitigan competed in the men’s team épée competition. In the women’s team foil contest, it was Eusebio, Romero, Nicole Alcaraz, and Chloei Rudio who played for La Salle.
In the men’s team sabre, the Green Fencers went up against UE’s Tranquilan, Christian Concepcion, John Concepcion, and Jinro Villanueva. The Red Warriors bagged gold medals in the men’s team sabre fixture after defeating the team from Taft.
In the men’s team épée event, DLSU, ADMU, and UE proceeded to the semis. La Salle defeated UP’s Jose Bautista, Timothy Gonzales, Gerardo Hernandez, Hans Rejante in the semifinals, 45-38, to advance to the finals and face UE.
The Green Fencers clinched their first gold medal in the tournament after convincingly beating the UE team of Tranquilan, Xavier Arabaca, John Concepcion, and Jethro Delgado, 45-34, in the finals.
As for the women’s team foil, with effort and determination, the Taft-based squad was successful in defeating UE, 44-38, booking a ticket to the finals to face the ADMU Lady Eagles.
In the finals, the Lady Fencers were unable to capitalize on the momentum they earned from winning their previous match as they succumbed to the team of Esteban, Maria Jimenez, Patricia Paulo, and Patricia Sarmiento of ADMU in a close game, 39-37.
Day four
The Green Fencers advanced to the semis of the men’s team foil but only settled for bronze when they faced the UE who also surpassed ADMU late in the finals match to grab the gold.
While the men’s team seized the lone medal in the last day of the stint, the women’s épée and sabre teams from Taft Avenue were denied doors for the medals by the ADMU and UP women’s teams, respectively, in the semis matches and settled for bronze. Moreover, UE took the top spot in the women’s team sabre, succeeded by UST. However, the latter prevailed over the former in the women’s team épée category.
Individual awards
ADMU swept the individual awards in the women’s division behind Lady Eagle Esteban who claimed both the Rookie of the Year (ROY) and the Most Valuable Fencer award. In the Men’s division, DLSU Green Fencer Dar. Lumahan was hailed ROY, while UE Red Warrior Tranquilan nabbed the MVP honors.
After finishing second in the medal tally, Green Fencers team captain Dav. Lumahan felt elated thinking about their performance, describing it as “memorable, epic, and great” for the men’s team. The team captain also promised to work harder next year to beat the defending champion, UE.
Meanwhile, ROY Dar. Lumahan overcame the pressure of being a national fencing team member as he was successful in taking the plum. “Masaya din ako sa outcome namin dahil lahat kami nag-work lalo na sa team namin sa men’s épée,” said the rookie.
(I am happy about our outcome because we all worked together, especially in the men’s épée.)
In the losing effort, the Lady Fencers were glad about their output this year, especially since a lot of rookies were added to the roster. Co-captain Eusebio is looking forward to a better outcome next season from the newbies so they could get back to the podium. “At least they got [to] experience yung dynamics ng UAAP. Syempre, next season we’re expecting a better performance,” she concluded.
(At least they got to experience the dynamics of UAAP. Of course, next season we’re expecting a better performance.)
At the culmination of the tournament, head coach Galo Nocom was thankful that both his teams in the men’s and women’s divisions have medal contributions to the general championship for the school. The fencers will be resting for the rest of the month but will hopefully get back to training by January to prepare for the next season.
Correction: February 16, 11:14 pm
The previous version of this article misspelled Lady Fencer Chloie Rudio’s name as Chloei Rudio. It also incorrectly listed the score between DLSU’s Patricia Eusebio and UE’s Elvielyn Javinar as 15-0 instead of 15-10. The article has since been updated to correct the oversight.
