POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 14, 2015) – The Vassar College men's fencing team returns to the strips on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. to host the Vassar College Fencing Challenge for Senior Day, where the two seniors will honored before the meet for their service to the Brewer squad. Vassar College hasn't fenced since December 7, when it traveled to Sacred Heart to take on four of the top 10 teams in the nation.

Meet Details
Date: January 18, 2015
Meet: Vassar College Fencing Challenge and Senior Day
Teams Competing: University of Detroit-Mercy, Cleveland State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Yale University, Sacred Heart University
Links: (Vassar Men's Fencing Team Home Page) (Roster) (Schedule) (Statistics)
Site: Poughkeepsie, NY
Facility: Walker Field House
Time: 10 a.m.
Twitter Coverage: (@VassarAthletics)
Meet Coverage: (Live Video)
 
What To Watch For
The Brewers will honor both Tré Artis (Jamaica, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) and Roberto Maiocco (Springfield, IL/Sacred Heart-Griffin) before the match for their hard work and dedication to the program. Artis has posted 124 wins in his career for the Brewers, serving as team captain this season for Vassar, while Maiocco has chalked up 94 victories and is the squad leader for the epee group this season. Artis has been huge for Vassar this season, as he leads the foil squad with 30 wins, including wins over opponents from Harvard, Princeton and Sacred Heart. Maiocco has mentored a very young and talented epee squad this year, and has still picked up a two wins as well for VC.
 
A Look At The Field
The Brewers welcome in six teams to the fold Sunday morning, including two teams from the Midwest in Detroit-Mercy and Cleveland State. Of the teams competing against VC on Sunday, only Yale University was earning votes in the CollegiateFencing360.com Top 10 poll at the end of last season. CSU has gone 11-1 on the season so far this year, returning NCAA Regional qualifiers Paul Dashow (epee) and Phelan Spence (foil). Detroit will boast a lineup of Regional fencers in Austin Carlisle (sabre) and Yaroslav Ivanov (foil), while NJIT is led by sophomores David Kong (foil, 6^th at NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals in 2013-14)  and Ryan Wrapsky (25^th, epee). Yale returns a bevy of talented fencers, including foilists Jacob Stein and Brian Wang and sabre fencer Hugh O'Cinneide. Sacred Heart, who the Brewers won't fence but will be in action Sunday, also is a very formidable opponent.
 
Tough Tests
Vassar College went 0-4 in its last meet at Sacred Heart, but fenced some of the best teams in the nation. All wasn't bad though, as Vassar earned nine bouts against NYU, including three wins in sabre from Eli Polston (Silver Spring, MD/Einstein) and two wins apiece in epee by Ry Farley (Pasadena, CA/Waverly School) and George Whiteside (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe). Farley also added two wins against Princeton, and freshman epee fencer Jonathan Alperstein (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) was 2-0 against Harvard.
 
Leading the Way
So far this season, the Brewers have gotten some solid contributions across the board, but none more than Jonathan Alperstein. The freshman leads the team in total wins with 34, though Tre Artis (30), Ry Farley (29) and Eli Polston (29) each have been great.
 
Freshman Feast
The Brewers have gotten some fantastic fencing out of this freshman class. So far this year, Vassar freshmen have posted 124 bout wins from newcomers, and in sabre and epee the group's leading fencer so far have been freshmen.
 
Excellent Epee
The epee group for the Brewers has been amazing, posting a team-best 93 bout victories so far this year. The talented and deep sabre team is right behind though, chalking up 92 wins.
 
Solid Sabre
The Brewers depth at sabre is evidenced in the fact that five of the six members on the group have winning records, and all six have posted at least two bout wins this season.
 
Up Next
Vassar College will return to the road next weekend, January 24 at 10 a.m. for Northeast Fencing Conference action at Brown University. VC will take on Boston College, Brandeis University, Dartmouth University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University and host Brown.