POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (January 18, 2015) – Freshman sabre fencer Eli Polston (Silver Spring, MD/Einstein) went an unblemished 11-0 Sunday, as the Vassar College men's fencing team went 3-1 on the afternoon in the Vassar Fencing Challenge, hosted in Walker Field House.

The Brewers honored their two seniors in captain Tre Artis (Jamaica, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) and Bobby Maiocco (Springfield, IL/Sacred Heart-Griffin) before the meet, as both have been part of the VC squad for the past four seasons.

Once the action started, the Brewers wasted no time getting going, earning a 20-7 victory over University of Detroit-Mercy in the first match of the day. The sabre squad was stellar against the Titans, as Polston and junior captain Elam Coalson (River Forest, IL/Oak Park & River Forest) each posted three wins, while Campbell Woods (Newport Beach, CA/Corona Del Mar) chalked up two victories as well.

The epee group went 7-2 as well against Detroit, as freshman Jonathan Alperstein (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) posted three wins. Vassar College kept it going against another NCAA Midwest squad in Cleveland State University, knocking off the Vikings 18-9. In that match, the Brewer epee team was again phenomenal, registering eight wins with three coming from sophomore Ry Farley (Pasadena, CA/Waverly School).

With the Brewers already 2-0 on the day, VC battled New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) next and came up with an impressive 16-11 win. Freshman Tom Racek (Clark's Summit, PA/Abington Heights) had possibly the biggest win of the match, as he knocked off David Kong of NJIT, who was sixth last year at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals.

The sabre team was also big in the win over the Highlanders, as Polston and Coalson each went 3-0, while freshman George Whiteside (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) tallied three wins in epee. In the final match of the day, the Brewers took on Yale University and fell to the Bulldogs 17-10. Yale came into the day earning votes in the CollegiateFencing360.com Top 10 final poll of last year.

Against the Bulldogs, Vassar College got a nice effort out of its epee squad once again, chalking up six total wins to up its total to 27 on the day. Alperstein, Farley and Whiteside each tallied 2-1 records, while Polston completed his day with three wins included a fantastic 5-2 win over Yale's ranked sabre fencer Hugh O'Cinneide.

The epee group was led on the day by the nine wins from Whiteside, while Farley and Alperstein each tallied eight apiece for the team that finished 27-9 on the day. The sabre squad was nearly as solid for VC, going 24-12 highlighted by the 11 wins from Polston and the 7-4 mark from Coalson. Racek led the foil squad Sunday, chalking seven victories while posting a pair of wins in the first three matches of the afternoon.

The Brewers will have a busy Saturday next week, traveling to Brown University to battle Boston College, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University and host Brown for Northeast Fencing Conference action at 10 a.m. from Providence, Rhode Island.