PROVING their championship run last season was no fluke, the UST Male Fencers stamped their authority on the piste anew to claim their second straight UAAP title last Feb. 14 at the Ateneo Blue Eagle gym.
“Maybe it was the confidence from winning last year. This is the prize for all the trust, time and efforts we exerted in our training,” epee coach Armando Bernal told the Varsitarian
The Male Fencers recovered from a sluggish start in the tournament to successfully defend their overall crown through a 2-3-2 medal haul in both the individual and team categories.
Season 71 Most Valuable Player (MVP) Harris Orendain and teammate Arnel Bernal struck gold in the epee team finals after toying with the University of the Philippines (UP) fencers, 45-26.
Meanwhile the Espana-based team forged an all-UST affair in the individual epee finals which saw Orendain prevailing over two-time champion and fellow Thomasian Bernal, 15-19.
UST settled at second place in the team foil finals after failing to thwart University of the East (UE), 36-45. In the individual foil, Season 70 MVP Jose Miguel Cagalingan carved a hard-fought 15-12 victory over UE’s Nathaniel Gutierrez to capture the bronze.
The Male Fencers bowed to Far Eastern University (FEU), 40-45, for a silver in the men’s sabre team finals.
Thomasian Donnie Arth Navarro, who won the bronze in the men’s individual sabre, was named Rookie of the Year.
But it was not only the Male Fencers who polished their swords on the podium. The Lady Fencers finished second despite registering only a gold and a bronze in the overall women’s tally dominated by UE.
Lady Fencer Karen Sorizo delivered the lone gold for UST after trouncing FEU’s Lourdes Teves, 15-10, in the individual sabre finals.
The Lady Fencers, last season’s fourth-placers, finished third in the women’s sabre team division after yielding a 24-25 contest to UP. Mika Rafaela A. Barrios and Heinz Jassen D. Brobo
