Carolina claims first ACC women’s fencing championship

North Carolina claimed the first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in women’s fencing program history Sunday afternoon, pulling off an upset of epic proportions by beating Duke for the first time since 2015 and then winning fence-offs against the Blue Devils and Notre Dame, the defending NCAA champion and winner of the three previous ACC titles. Few would have guessed that as the weekend of fencing wrapped up it would be the third-seeded Tar Heels celebrating on the Carmichael Arena court and donning “ACC Champion” caps and t-shirts.

“I don’t know that it was improbable,” said Carolina coach Ron Miller, now in his 51st season as the Tar Heels’ coach, said of the victory. “I think it was not expected, and there’s a difference. Coming in, we felt comfortable that we would come out with a minimum of third place, possibly second, and maybe, maybe first.”

Miller is the only one in the program who had ever experienced an ACC Championship. While it’s the first title for the women’s program, it’s the ninth for him, with the other eight coming long before any of his current fencers were born. He coached Carolina to eight men’s titles between 1971 and 1980 but as several ACC schools dropped fencing it ceased to be a conference sport. That changed in 2015, when the championship was revived with four teams: Carolina, Duke, Notre Dame and Boston College. Since then Notre Dame has swept the men’s and women’s crowns each year. Duke pulled the upset on Saturday to take the 2018 men’s title.

When the Tar Heels beat No. 10 Duke to kick off the women’s team competition on Sunday afternoon, it looked like that would be the highlight of the day – and perhaps the season – for Carolina. The last time the Carolina women had beaten Duke in fencing was Feb. 7, 2015, in Durham, and the Blue Devils had won six in a row since then.

With a victory within reach and Carolina just a point from clinching, sitting at 13-11, junior Sydney Persing trailed 3-0 in her foil bout against a competitor she’d never beaten. Associate head coach Josh Webb pulled her aside and told her not to give up, and she listened.

“Statistically it’s really unlikely to win like that,” Persing said. “But I really do think the whole day is about belief.”

She went on to win the bout 4-3 in overtime, setting off a celebration among her Tar Heel teammates, for whom beating Duke (the final score was 14-13) and potentially finishing as the ACC runner-up seemed at that time like a phenomenal day.

“To see that light go off in overtime and have my team jump on me was the best feeling,” Persing said. “I didn’t think we would top that feeling today but we did.”

The Tar Heels fell to Notre Dame and then Duke pulled off an upset over the defending champions to leave the three schools all tied at 2-1 on the day, with each also beating fourth-seeded Boston College. To break the tie, the teams would each pick one fencer per weapon to compete in best two-out-of-three five-touch bouts. As the top seed, Notre Dame got a first-round bye, so Carolina and Duke faced off with the winner to take on the Irish.

“Of the three, we were the clear least-favorite,” Persing said.

Carolina’s selections were sophomore Georgina Summers in epee, junior Carlexa Fevry in foil and sophomore Jackie Litynski in sabre. Against Duke, Carolina won epee and sabre to advance to face Notre Dame. Summers got the chance for a rematch with Notre Dame’s Amanda Sirico, the defending NCAA champion and the fencer who beat Summers for ACC gold on Saturday. This time, Summers earned the win, 5-3. After the Irish took the foil bout, the championship came down to sabre, where Litynski was tied 3-3, then pulled ahead 4-3, then was tied 4-4 with the Irish’s Francesca Russo, who had won the ACC gold medal on Saturday. Litynski’s older sister, Gillian, was responsible for the only Carolina women’s fencing championship before Sunday – she won the sabre gold in 2015. Now graduate student in the UNC School of Nursing and a volunteer assistant on the Carolina staff, Gillian helped coach Jackie to a 5-4 win to seal the Tar Heels’ title.

The morning session on Sunday was the men’s individual competition, and junior Matthew Garrelick had Carolina’s best finish, fourth in sabre. Garrelick, who reached the 2016 NCAA Championships as a freshman, won nine bouts in round-robin competition to advance to the semifinals as the No. 4 seed. He faced off against top-seeded Pascual DiTella of Duke and fell 15-10. In the bronze medal match, he lost 15-8 to Notre Dame’s Jonathan Fitzgerald, meaning no Tar Heels on the podium.

That was a change from Saturday, when there had been two medalists for the first time in Carolina history, with Summers winning silver and Justine de Grasse winning bronze in women’s epee. Afterward, both spoke optimistically of Carolina’s chances the following day in the team competition. Yet even if they believed there was a chance, that didn’t mean anyone saw it as likely, even midway through Sunday afternoon. As Miller said, it was not expected.

“We thought Notre Dame as going to win or Duke was going to win and then suddenly this confusion occurred and adrenaline rose and they had to choose one fencer from each event and I was chosen to fence and compete,” said Summers, who was named the championship MVP. “Normally, all eyes on me … I’m not a huge fan and the whole team knows that. But today everything changed and I used it to my advantage. It seemed to affect my performance in the complete right direction. I’m very, very, very happy.”

With Tar Heels celebrating and snapping photos all around her as stood on the Carmichael court, it was apparent she wasn’t alone in that feeling.

“This is the most remarkable feeling I’ve ever had,” Persing said. “It feels like a dream. We can’t believe we’re wearing these hats and holding this trophy. To see Coach Miller with tears in his eyes, it’s the most grateful I’ve been for anything in my life besides my family.

“This is such a big win for our program and for Coach Miller – there is no better gift we could have given this man.”