Men's Fencing | 11/14/2014 10:42:00 AM

NEW YORK—The NJIT men's and women's fencing teams returned back to action after a strong performance at the Temple Open Friday evening at the Columbia Invitational.

The NJIT men went 2-1 with victories over Florida (14-13) and Stevens (14-13) while dropping a (9-18) decision to host Columbia.  The women, competing with only five fencers at the Invitational came up short against Florida, Fairleigh Dickinson and Columbia.

Freshman Simon Rizell from Gothenburg, Sweden went 9-0 on the foil strip at the Invitational while classmate Julia Garcia from Madrid, Spain, recorded a 9-0 mark on the epee strip.

Rizell paced the foil squad with a perfect 3-0 record while sophomore Ryan Hrapsky led the NJIT epee squad with a 3-0 performance against Florida.

The Highlanders defeated MACFA conference rival Stevens, 14-13, led by Rizell who put together another 3-0 performance on the foil strip leading the squad to an 8-1 victory.  Rizell finished off a strong day with a 3-0 mark against host Columbia.

On the women's side, Garcia and senior Julia Aronov, competing on the epee strip and short a fencer, topped Florida (6-3) and FDU (5-4).  Garcia went a perfect 3-0 against Florida, FDU and Columbia for a 9-0 overall record on the day while Aronov recorded a 3-0 mark against Florida and 2-1 record against FDU.

Freshman foilist Jule Shigihara from Bonn, Germany, went 3-0 against Florida and 2-1 against FDU.

Both squads will host its annual Alumnae/Alumni Event on November 30 at Noon.