From the Coaches - Recap

10th Feb 2023

Girls:

A Team of 7 underclassmen and 2 Srs took to their strips on Sunday at North Hunterdon HS at the NJSIAA district 3 Championships.  

With illness and injury the small but determined team set out to qualify for both team and individual placement into the State Championships.

Hard work does pay off!!!  Our girls are going to the state team championship round.

Led by the foil squad of Jr's Julia DiPaolo (8-0) Sanjana Kuttikat (7-1) and Gabby Flynn (7-1) the girls qualified for states by placing 3rd overall (combined foil epee and sabre).

Our 2 Sr's Sam Graff (5-3) Juniper Gattone (3-5) and Freshman Aadarshini Vinod Das (2-6) combined to give our sabre squad a 6th place finish. A very good showing since starter Jr Isabella Tuttolomondo could not compete due to a hip injury.

In Epee Soph's Alexa Stolarz (3-5)  and Lydia Amento (3-5)  along with Fr standout Addison Weber (5-3) combined for a 6th place finish.  Sr Kaylyn Moore had to withdraw after warming up her teammates due to illness.

By way of their records DiPaolo (2nd year in a row), and Kuttikat qualify for states in foil while Graff will represent in Sabre.

Let's celebrate these young fencers and their accomplishments.   And a congrats to all you dedicated parents.  A big shout out to Mgr Bess and Alumna Marisa!!!

After an amazing showing at their District Championships the girls focused on their last two meets of the regular season

Monday saw an exhausted but enthusiastic team suffer a 9 -18 loss.

Our squads each lost to a tough Voorhees team:  foil 4-5, sabre 2-7 and epee 3-6.

On Weds the girls lost a close one to district rivials North Hunterdon 12-15.   The evening started out with Principal Rymer and AD Schilling presenting our newest 100 win club members.  Sr. Samantha Graff and Jr's Julia DiPaolo and Sanjana Kuttikat.

The first and second rounds were close.  It came down to the last three bouts which Voorhees narrowly won to clinch the victory

Our Foil squad led the team winning 6-3, Sabre and Epee were 3-6 for the evening.

The Girls await their first round state championship opponent and are ready to take them on Monday at a time and place to be determined.

Boys:

The districts at North Hunterdon proved to be quite challenging for our boys this year. Pacing our stamina through the day is something that always challenges an athlete. Coming in strong and just missing advancing to the State Individual Championships was senior Tyler Kometani. He missed advancing by one bout! 

Monday’s meet with Voorhees HS was an out of conference chance for the younger fencers to get their feet wet and get varsity fencing under their belt. 

Our Monday night meet with Voorhees and the meet on Wednesday with North Hunterdon was out of conference and meant to be a great opportunity to fence another nearby team. I fenced in many underclassmen and gave Tyler and JT the green light to switch weapons! Tyler fenced foil and JT fenced Sabre on Monday. They had a blast and a memorable night! Other fencers went in to gain experience and fence kids whom they might encounter at the new Freshman Sophomore Tournament (February 18th). We subbed in nearly everyone between the two meets. We lost both meets 8-19 and then 7-20 respectively. 

We look forward to a week of freshmen and sophomore practices with me giving some more attention to the boys. Monday, I plan to have a 4-6pm practice and will let the kids know on TeamSnap if I can have that time  slot. The girls might be fencing at home since they made the Sweet 16 bracket on Monday so we will see if they need the cafe to practice beforehand. 

On February 18th, we have the new Freshman Sophomore Tournament at Voorhees. This was the one we went to last year. I was able to get us in even though our conference held ours this year. I wanted to make sure the younger kids got a chance to fence. More information will be coming up about that soon. 

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27th Jan 2023

Girls Team:

The girls wrapped up their conference season this week with losses to Randolph and Chatham.  Finishing with a conference record of 3-6.

On Monday against Randolph the girls fenced well but came up short with a 10-17 loss.  Missing 2 starters on the Sabre Squad, Sr. Captain Sam Graff led her two first year squadmates Soph Lydia Amento and Fr Aadarshini Vinod Das with a 3-0 record.  Amento who had not fenced Sabre before lost a few close ones but went 0-3 for the night as did Vinod Das.

Foil squad was 6-3 with Jr Captain Julia DiPaolo posting a 3-0 record while Jr Sanjana Kuttikat was 2-1 and Jr Gabriella Flynn was 1-2.

Epee had a rough night with so many close bouts.  Fr. Addison Weber had the lone victory for the squad.

Trying to overcome the loss, the girls set their sights on Thursday's meet with Chatham.  After a tough first round with just 2 victories and 2nd round with only 1 win the girls settled in and took the last round 7-2, but the comeback fell short and we lost 10-17 to the overall Morris County Champs.

The foil squad was 5-4 led by another undefeated showing of Julia DiPaolo. Sanjana Kuttikat was 2-1, Gabby Flynn fenced well but fell short going 0-3.

Sabre was 2-7 behind wins from Sam Graff and Juniper Gattone. Rookies Vinod Das and Amento were 0-3 and 0-1 respectively.

The Girls will next travel to North Hunterdon for District 4 Championships on Sunday February 5th, where if they can place 4th or better they will qualify for the first round of the State Championships.

Remember Monday 1/30 there will be a celebration of all our female athletes at halftime of the girls basketball game.  Please come out to show support.

Boys Team:

Kicking off with this past Saturday, the boys team finished 10th over all out of 56 teams of the tri-state area. The Cetrulo Tournament is primarily a NJ open, but then if there are any openings, we open it to the tri-state. 

We fenced Monday against Randolph at home. We lost 9-18, but did not have Jake and Baylor in sabre due to illness and injury from Cetrulo. I feel strongly that we had a real chance to win had they fenced. Nick Panico subbed in with Tyler and we shared the lost spot with different younger fencers like John C, Johnathan and Alyx.

The foil squad met up with serious foil competition. They are one of the top three foil squads in our league. We did not win a bout, but we tried several things and subbed in our younger fencers.

In epee, the squad won over all 5-4. Ryan went 2-1, Kieran went 1-2 and sharing the last spot were Jeffrey and Zach. Zach went 2-0.

Losing to Randolph was something I expected since we didn't have 2 of our starters, yet we used this meet to sub in and learn from and just go "with it".

Last night, we fenced Chatham. Chatham is another tough school in our conference who train year round at several different clubs. Leading the way against this tough school was Jake who also was the BIRTHDAY BOY! Jake went 3-0 in sabre, Baylor went 1-2, and Tyler sat out to save his ankle for Districts (2/5/23).

Foil had their work cut out for themselves. We had many learning experiences and gave the subs a chance. Subs were Matt, Shane and Marcellus.

Epee took away two bouts from Chatham. The line up was Ryan, Kieran and Zach. 

We lost 6-21 to Chatham which was not the worst the boys have lost in our history. In fencing Chatham, I pointed out they train year round and fence with their points and pick up the blade before going in to hit. It is my hope the boys train in the off season to keep the skills sharp!

Next meets are Districts on the 5th, Vorhees and North Hunterdon on the 6th and 8th.

20th Jan 2023

Boys Team:

Wednesday’s defeat with Kinnelon was close. Many bouts were decided by a single touch, allowing fencers to reflect and improve for future meets.
Leading the way with a 3-0 record was senior Jake Biondolillo and then the sabres overall were 7-2 for the night.
Foils struggled with Kinnelon’s lineup, but senior captain Brandt Rohan pulled a victory in the first round!
In Epee, senior captain Ryan Weber went 2-1 along with sophomore Zack Tuttolomondo also 2-1. Sophomore Kieran Jackson pulled in a victory making our Epee squad win the Epee 5-4.
We go on to the Cetrulo Family Tournament Saturday at Drew. The usual varsity line up has been determined and told at practices. Our bus leaves at 7am, a pinch early just to make sure we get there on time. Berardi will be riding with the boys while I get there early to check us in and set up. I am VP of the Coaches Association and have some responsibilities ahead of time.  Between Berardi and me, we will circulate between the three weapons.

Girls Team:

The Girls lost a close one to the Colts 11-16 Wednesday.

They kept it close the first round 4-5 and the 2nd round 4-5 but the last round saw Kinnelon pull away 3-6.

The foil squad continued its winning ways defeating Kinnelon 5-4.  Jr's Julia DiPaolo (3-0) Sanjana Kuttikat (2-1) and Gabby Flynn (0-3) are undefeated as a squad this season (7-0)

The Sabre squad had its best showing of the season.  Jr Isabela Tuttolomondo. went undefeated (3-0) Sr. Sam Graff was (2-1) dropping her 1st bout since December 17th.  Her loss came early in the first round with tech problems going undiagnosed until after her bout was over.  Sr Juniper Gattone was (1-2), losing 2 very close bouts.

Our Epee squad struggled somewhat losing so many close bouts.  Starters Sr Kaylan Moore (0-2) Soph Alex Stolarz (0-2) and Fr Addison Weber (0-3) hung tough losing tough bouts.  In the last round Soph Lydia Amento (0-1) narrowly lost her bout (4-5) while Fr Aadarshini Vinod-Das, who normally fences Sabre lost her lone bout (3-5).

The Girls will travel this Sunday to the Santelli Tournament where they will be up against just shy of 50 teams for the covenant Santelli Championship title.The all day event will be held at Drew University in Madison.

They are back in conference play on the 23rd at home against the Rams of Randolph.  The girls are (3-4) so far this season with just Randolph and Chatham remaining in conference play.

Hope to see you there!!

12th Jan 2023

On Tuesday night the girls team fell to the visiting Crusaders from Morris Catholic by a score of 12 to 15.

After a great Sr Recognition celebration the girls took to the strip ready to continue their two meet winning streak.

Winning the 1st round by the close 5-4 margin it looked like they would. The second round was taken by Morris Catholic by the same narrow margin which tied the overall score 9-9.

Two thirds through the last round the score was again tied 12-12.  The Crusaders took the last 3 bouts to clinch the victory 

Highlights during the meet, WMC had many:

Squad wise both foil and epee won 5-4.

Senior Samantha Graff in Sabre and Junior Julia DiPaolo in Foil, both continued their undefeated streak, each posting 3-0 records. In Foil, Jr's Sanjana Kuttikat and Gabriella Flynn were both 1-2.  Jr  Isabella Tuttolomondo was 2-1 while Sr Juniper Gattone and Fr Aadarshini Vinud-Dos were 0-2 and 0-1 respectively in Sabre.

Our epee squad had several close bouts with Soph Alexa Stolarz posting a 2-1 record. Fr. Addison Weber 1-2 and Sr Kaylan Moore 0-3.  Soph Lydia Amento did not have a chance to sub in during the tight score but who's spirit and encouragement served the team well.

The Girls will travel to the Morris County Championships on Saturday in Randolph.  After that they will be back on home turf fencing Kinnelon on January 18th at home.

The meet with Morris Catholic on 1/10/23 proved to be a great success for the Boys Team! Starting with our Senior Send-Off and ending with an overall score of 18-9, the night was full of emotion.

Senior Sabres Jake Biondillio, Baylor Tumminelli and Tyler Kometani all went 3-0 plus Tyler's victory won us the match and he was MVP for the Morris Sussex Sports and won a T-Shirt from them!

Senior Brandt Rohan went 2-1 in foil and adding on victories were Junior JT and Freshman Marcellus Brown (both with 1 victory and Brown's 1st varsity bout). Epee celebrated Senior Captain Ryan Weber's 2-1 score and Sophomore Kieran Jackson's 3-0 score (Kieran is officially a TURKEY now with 3x 3-0 scores). Tzur Haspel-Soares made his season debut stepping up and fighting for every touch. 

We are now 5-1 for the conference and face Kinnelon at home next week, the 18th. Let's go, Pack!

5th Jan 2023

Girls Team:

On the day back from vacation, the girls showed the Holidays didn't slow them down.

On Monday they traveled to Morris Knolls and came home with a 15-12 victory.  The foil squad led the way with 8 wins! Jr's. Sanjana Kuttikat and Julia DiPaolo swept their 3 bouts while fellow Jr Gabriella Flynn was 2-1.

The Sabre squad won 4 of 9 bouts.  Leading the way was Sr Samantha Graff who went undefeated.  Sr Juniper Gattone, 1st year fencer, posted her first victory of the season.  Fr Aadarshini Vinod Das, another 1st year fencer, fenced well and lost a very close couple of bouts.

Our Epee squad was 3-6 with each fencer Sr Kaylan Moore, Soph Alexa Stolarz and Fr Addison Weber each winning 1 bout.  Moore showed great Sportsmanship by asking to have soph Lydia Amento sub in for her last bout.

On Tuesday the team traveled to Hackettstown.  Two meets on back to back days did not slow the girls' momentum.  They handed the Tigers a 21-6 loss.

Foilists again led the charge going undefeated, DiPaolo, Kuttikat and Flynn all posted 3-0 records.

The Epee squad was 6-3 behind performances: Stolarz 2-0, Weber 2-1, Moore 1-2, and Soph Amento 1-0 coming off the bench and winning - the girls were on fire!

Sabre, not to be outdone by Epee, posted an identical record of 6-3.

Graff was 3-0 for her fourth consecutive meet.

Jr. Isabella Tuttolomondo who missed Tuesday's meet got right back into action posting a 2-1 record. Gattone went 1-1.  Substituting for Gattone in the last round, Aadarshini Vinod Das lost her one bout by a close 4-5 score.

We have fenced 5 of 9 conference meets.  So Far:

Team 3-2

Foil squad 5-0

Sabre squad 2-3

Epee squad 1-4

Most wins:

Samantha Graff 14

Julia DiPaolo 14

Sanjana Kuttikat 14

Most consecutive wins:

Samantha Graff 14.

The Fr and Sophs will travel this weekend for a special competition of their own 

The team will be hosting Morris Catholic on January 10 (Sr recognition night).  Come on out for A very "Touching" Event.

Boys Team:

Wow! What a last few meets! Starting with Tuesday against Morris Knolls, the boys really fought and turned up great bouts! Going undefeated were Senior Jake Biondillilo(Sabre) and Sophomore Kieran Jackson(Epee). We won on Kieran's last bout and the score was 14-13. Many close bouts for this meet which cost me about 10 years of my life! Overall scores for each squad were: Sabre 7-2 , Foil 2-7, and Epee 5-4.

Yesterday against Hackettstown we were in "Beast Mode"! We won 24-3. Again, we won the meet at 14 with Kieran's Epee bout and continued to win 10 more bouts. I would have liked to sub in, but the overall wins for our seniors for all conference league honors is very important. Going undefeated were: Jake Biondillio (Senior-Sabre), Baylor Tuminelli (Senior-Sabre) and Tyler Kometani (Senior-Sabre), Brandt Rohan (Senior-Foil), Kieran Jackson (Sophomore-Epee), and Jeffery Jiang (Sophomore-Epee). Going 2-1 were JT (Foil), Colin Baumann (Foil) and Ryan Weber (Epee) with some close bouts that could have gone their way for a total 27-0 score!

Impressive stuff!! The boys are now 4 and 1 for the year so far!

19Dec 2022

Recap of Quad Meet from the Coaches:

Girls:

'22-'23 Season opener saw the girls team post a 1-2 record for the day.

First up was Morris Hills. The girls fell to last year's conference champs 10-17. Next the girls fenced the Colonials from Morristown. This time victory was theirs 14-13 behind a perfect 9-0 performance from the foil squad. Last team of the day was sister high school Mendham. Despite a valiant effort by all, the girls fell one touch short of a victory and lost 13-14.

The day had many highlights:

Sabre was 2-1 squad wise. Led by Senior Captain Samantha Graff who was 8-1 on the day. Junior Isabella Tuttolomondo pulled out 2 wins while Senior Juniper Gattone, first time fencers gained some great experience and got some good touches in her favor. Freshman Aadarshini Vinod Das surprised everyone including herself, by winning both bouts she subbed in for. She was the only undefeated WMC fencer for the day.

Foil also posted a 2-1 squad record. They started with a 6-3 victory over Morris Hills in the first round. In the second round, all three starters posted perfect 3-0 records to sweep Morristown. Junior Captain Julia DiPaolo and Junior Sanjana Kuttikat were both 8-1 while Gabby Flynn (what an awesome name for a fencer, old time swashbuckling movie fans will know what I mean) went 3-6.

On the surface, an 0-3 record for the Epee Squad may not appear as an accomplishment, but Senior Captain Kaylan Moore and Freshman Addison Weber were each 2-7 while Sophomores Alexa Stolarz and Lydia Amento were 1-5 and 1-2 respectively. It was a very nice showing, considering 3 of the 4 girls were not starters last season, and two are first year high school fencers!

The girls return to practice Monday and will prepare for a Jan 3rd meet with conference rivals Morris Knolls.

Boys:

The quad meet on 12/17/22 went off so well and WMC was up and ready! Many great bouts from all squads were fenced and it led us to being 2-1 for the day!

Morris Hills was our toughest competition there but we hung in and pulled off 9 wins. We lost 9-18 overall to them. Our Sabre squad defeated their Sabre squad 5-4 though: Jake, Baylor and Tyler were our starting line up.

The foil and epee teams gave us 5 bouts together. Foil starting line up was Brandt, JT and Colin. Epee line up was Ryan, Kieran and John.

The second school we fenced was Morristown. We defeated them 19-8. Sabre squad subbed in Nicholas Panico (who went 2-0 for the day), Ben Johnston started in place of Colin and won his first Varsity bout, and we had Jeffrey Jiang and Zack Tuttolomondo sub in Epee. We won the meet with Jeffrey's victory and Zack gave me a mild heart condition with a loss of 4-5!

Fencing our sister school WMM gave us great fencing as well. We defeated them 16-11. We went back to the original line up in each squad. All squads really seemed to fall into place and handled themselves with confidence. The foil squad had WMM's A strip, Rossi to contend with and I was impressed with Brandt's victory. Thank you for your young men and great sportsmanship from them!

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