North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Wrap Up Season at Home
February 20, 2010 | Fencing
Feb. 20, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina fencing team hosted Duke Friday night for the rare head-to-head matchup and found plenty in the occasion to celebrate, despite the fact the Blue Devils won both the men's and women's meets by scores of 17-10. In action at UNC's Eddie Smith Field House, women's foil was the bright spot for UNC, winning 5-4 in the only Tar Heel weapon victory for the night. Duke won women's sabre 6-3 and epee 7-2. On the men's side, Duke won 7-2 in sabre and edged the Tar Heels 5-4 in both foil and epee.
The occasion marked the first time in several decades that UNC has hosted Duke for a one-on-one match. Friday's Tar Heel-Blue Devil face-off, however, was the second in the last three weeks. The teams also met as part of a multi-team meet in Durham on Feb. 6-7, with the hosts winning both the men's and women's matchups against Carolina. "All in all, I'm disapointed with the final scores - they're about the same as they were the first time - but I'm not disappointed in the overall performance," UNC coach Ron Miller said. "I told the team after the meet, I'm disappointed in the result but I'm not disappointed in them. There's a big difference in that."
"Some of the things we've worked on in practice specifically paid off for us, and there were some points at which we were simply unlucky, which sometimes happens. A lot of people got personal retribution -- Thomas Le Guillou was 0-3 the first time we fenced them, just had a bad day, this time showed what he's made of."
Le Guillou finished 3-0 in epee against Duke on Friday. Also 3-0 on the evening was Kaitlin Williamson, who helped lead women's foil to victory.
The competition was the final one of the regular season for UNC, which now looks ahead to NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals on March 13 in Madison. N.J. The Carolina men finished up the season at 29-12, while the women are 20-20.
Records aside, however, the home setting provided a highlight on which to wrap up the regular season. "Their families and friends came, people from my classes came, and people who just saw the signs came," Miller said. "Their support was very good and very much appreciated by our team."
Players Mentioned
