Sensational Sunday: Eli Lippman Wins ACC Epee Title & MVP

Sunday, February 23

All Day

North Carolina

ACC Championships

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 23, 2025 | Fencing

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - UNC senior fencer Eli Lippman dueled it out on Saturday night in a thrilling victory that crowned him as the 2025 Men's Epee Individual Atlantic Coast Conference Champion. It was a bookend to his college career, since he capped his freshman year as champion too, in 2022.

ACC CHAMPION 🏆 🏆

Eli Lippman is now a two-time ACC men's epee champion#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/vLd2yfQbsI
— Carolina Fencing (@UNCFencing) February 23, 2025

"It's a really magical moment. We [Lippman and Hagen Zheng] came in together as freshman athletes," said Student Coach Zheng, also a senior. "It was a full circle thing to happen, where I'm sitting behind him as he's accomplishing the same thing he did his freshman year as a senior."

Zheng primarily coaches the epee team and was in Lippman's corner when he took down the Stanford fencer 15-12 to secure the championship.

Lippman was also voted MVP for the ACC Championships, giving Carolina back-to-back MVPs for the conference championship. Both winners have been men's epee fencers since sophomore Boris Muga won it last year as a freshman.

Your 2025 ACC Championships MVP, Eli Lippman

Tonight's honor gives Carolina back-to-back MVPs for the conference championship, and both winners have been men's epee fencers.#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/0KoPE8xo4k
— Carolina Fencing (@UNCFencing) February 24, 2025

How it happened:

Lippman breezed through pools and entered the elimination portion of the tournament as the number one seed. The senior then battled against Daniel Gao from Boston College in a tight bout until Lippman won 14-13.

Next, Lippman faced off against Allen Marakov, an all-American from Duke who was fresh off an upset victory in his previous round. The duo traded leads with the score being tied multiple times. After going up 12-11, Lippman grabbed the lead for good to finish with a 15-13 victory.

Lippman opened up an intense and emotionally charged championship bout with a 7-4 lead against Stanford's Alexander Jeon. Jeon mounted a comeback, tying briefly, until Lippman took a 12-11 lead. He landed multiple double touches in a row to stave off Jeon's attempts to tie the bout. Lippman then landed what's known as, "attack into preparation," which is when a fencer sneaks in an attack while the other is preparing. Lippman yanked off his mask to celebrate while his teammates cheered on his second career ACC Championship, with a 15-12 finish in the winning bout.

Mission Accomplished ✅#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/1EWe5ZENTV
— Carolina Fencing (@UNCFencing) February 23, 2025

Men's Individual Results

Epee:
1. Eli Lippman
4. Aiden Click
7. Brayden Gyure
10. Boris Muga

Men's Foil
4. Kevin Maia Lima
5. Nick Baumstein
15. Christian Porras
18. Alexander Sichitiu

Men's Sabre.
5. Nicky Wind
8. Casper Mika
15. Finn Buchmann
16. Elden Wood

Sunday's Women's Team Championship

The women's squad battled hard all day, but came up empty. Lauren Yu's two-win performance against Notre Dame was one of the highlights of the day.

As a team, Carolina lost against Stanford, even though the women's epee squad dominated against the Cardinal going 9-0.

The Tar Heels then fell against Duke and Boston College to end the night.

Women's ACC Championship Team Standings
1. Notre Dame, 4-0
2. Duke, 3-1
3. Boston College, 2-2
4. Stanford, 1-3
5. North Carolina, 0-4

Women's Bout-By-Bout Results
North Carolina, 6 Notre Dame, 21
North Carolina, 16 Stanford, 11
North Carolina, 8 Duke, 19
North Carolina,11 Boston College, 16

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