EVANSTON, Ill. - The Cleveland State University fencing team closed the regular season Saturday at Northwestern's NU Duals inside Ryan Fieldhouse.
Both the CSU men and CSU women posted 1-5 records in dual action Saturday while facing a number of high-level foes.
The Viking women dropped matchups to Stanford (6-21), North Carolina (9-18), Incarnate Word (10-12), Air Force (8-19) and UC San Diego (7-20) while claiming a win over Fairleigh Dickinson (20-5). Three of their losses came to opponents receiving votes in the latest national rankings.
The epee unit led the way for the CSU women by posting 26 victories on the day, including noteworthy triumphs against Stanford and UC San Diego.
The CSU men suffered setbacks against Stanford (5-22), Princeton (6-21), North Carolina (13-14), Air Force (8-19) and UC San Diego (5-22) while claiming a win over Incarnate Word (18-9). All five of the Vikings' losses came to foes ranked or receiving votes nationally, as CSU nearly pulled off the upset of the Tar Heels in round 4.
There was balanced scoring for the Viking men, with the epee unit (20) edging out foil (19) for the lead in victories. The saber unit had a strong showing in the upset bid against UNC, claiming a 5-4 win.
Cleveland State will open the postseason in three weeks time when it heads to the Midwest Conference Championships Feb. 22-23.