The Brown fencing team was unable to overcome fierce competition in three matches at the Columbia Invitational in New York City on Saturday. Both the men and women fell to nineth ranked Yale 20-7 and to Columbia 22-7. The Brown women also squared off against seventh ranked Northwestern. Despite a hard fought contest against the Wildcats, the Bears lost 17-10.

As has been the case throughout the season, several of Brown's individual and weapons' squads had outstanding performances.

Senior All-American Paul Friedman was undefeated on the day and compiled a 6-0 record in men's sabre. Sophomore Dan Dorsky and freshman Jeremy Adler joined Friedman in securing a solid 6-3 victory in men's saber against Yale and a close 4-5 loss to Columbia.

Once again, the women's epee squad had a strong meet for Brown, showing incredible depth despite the absence of senior tri-captain Sophie Klein, who is recovering from an ankle injury. Nationally ranked freshman Ruth Schneider, junior Alessandra Assante and freshman Lucy Walker defeated Northwestern 6-3 but lost close 6-3 matches to both Columbia and Yale. Schneider ended the day with an 8-1 individual record. Assante posted a 4-5 record at the meet.

Other highlights of the day included freshman Claire Coiro's 5-3 victory over her more experienced Yale opponent and junior Matt Ivester shaking off a loss and coming back to win his last two bouts against Yale.

With the conclusion of the regular season, Brown's fencers are now looking forward to the New England Championships February 22 at the University of New Hampshire, the ECAC/IFA Championships March 1 at Boston College, the NCAA Regionals March 8-9 at NYU, and the NCAA Nationals March 20-24 at the US Air Force Academy.