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The team event was seeded (somehow) based on individual results from the first day of PCCs. That seeding was put into a DE tableau. Each "meet" consisted of 9 bouts, with a running total to 45 touches. So if one team was down, say, 12-40, going into the final bout, it would still be possible for them to win, at least theoretically, by scoring at least 29 points (that'd give 'em a 41-40 victory).
Our women's epee team (Marin, Kasha, and Alyssa), fencing together for the first time, had excellent
individual fencing. Seeded 8th, they were victorious over 9th-seeded Fencing Academy of Nevada Grey, 45-29 (Marin or Alyssa, any more details?). The next round, they went up against GGFC's top-seeded women's epee team. In a number of the bouts, they brought it to the GGFC fencers. Mostly I remember watching Alyssa and Kasha take their opponents' blades and fleche to the arm or body, scoring, followed by our cheering (or, in Rob's case, friendly trash talking). Marin worked some long lunges and also some nice touches to the hand, but those things together were not quite enough for the team to pull out that meet, and they finished the meet 39-45.
The "EBFG B" men's team (Joel, Andy, and Erik), seeded 11th, fenced the No Fear Veterans’ team from San Diego (seeded 6th). No Fear team featured wily vets such as Chuck Alexander and Bill Gelnaw. As our other team was fencing at the same time, I didn't get to watch much of this, but I did see Erik get some strong touches against Bill Gelnaw, and I saw Joel popping someone in the hand. That wasn't enough to get them past No Fear, though (guys, any highlights from your meet?). As an aside, in the individual the first day, Erik beat Carl Loeffler of LA, who otherwise would have gone undefeated in pools, with a series of strong counterattacks.
The EBFG A men's team (Keith, Rob, Frank) also fenced. Everybody contributed to the effort, except maybe Keith, who was slacking until Rob and Frank gave him a chance to help out at the end. We were 4th seed, and started off with 13th-seeded San Bernadino Valley College. The San Bernadino fencers were friendly, but not strong, and we cruised to a straightforward 45-23 victory.
We then faced No Fear's younger team, featuring Brian Clawson, Kevin Mo, and Jens Stefan. Frank showed strong, yet energy-efficient, fencing
here, effectively using the "maybe I'll just step back and hit 'em in the arm" approach. This was particularly effective with Kevin Mo, who was willing to come forward and get hit. Rob also brought out his standard hit to the knee and hand, and did a strong job with Jens Stefan of inviting Jens to come forward, only to hit him in the hand and arm--and, boom! one light for us. There was an iffy moment at the end, as the No Fear fencers were actually pretty strong, and the meet was tied 40-40 going into the last period, and then 42-42 at the end of time. Luckily for us, No Fear got priority, thus freezing in place Kevin Mo, who felt he should try to wait it out rather than attack. This allowed Keith to score with a fleche. So, 43-42.
In the 4, EBFG A fenced last year's winning team, and this year’s #1 seed, from the Fencing Academy of Nevada, featuring veterans Evan Ranes and Sean Ameli, plus pentathlete Nicolai Diaconescu, winner of this year's individual competition. Although Frank and I lost some touches to Diaconescu, we were able to get them back against Ranes and Ameli. Since Diaconescu had a strong fleche and really liked to beat the blade (and since I'd lost to him on Saturday in the semi-final), we decided to put Rob in as our closer. If nothing else, we figured Rob would avoid Diaconescu’s blade and that would be frustrating for him, letting something happen. We had a 1-touch lead, 40-39, going into the last period—also good news. Diaconescu had to come forward for No Fear to pull out a win.
Rob immediately got a counterattack touch on Diaconescu as D fleched, which only made D fleche harder. At that point, Rob was covering the side of the strip pretty well. The parts of the strip not covered by Rob were covered by the scoring table, which was pretty close to the strip edge. As a result, Diaconescu fleched hard directly into Rob--who touched him as D came in--and sort of bounced off. To those of us standing by the side of the strip, two things seemed likely: First, that Diaconescu was not used to bouncing off. Second, it looked like right after D fleched into
Rob, Rob raised his right hand as if he was going to pop him one in the kisser. Apparently, though, D had grabbed Rob's jacket in the chest and started to try to drag him down onto the strip.
They got back en garde, and Diaconescu again fleched hard into Rob--then complained that Rob was standing in his way on the strip! This problem was solved by moving the scoring machine table away from the strip. This solution was actually to Diaconescu's disadvantage, since Rob kept hitting him as he fleched. So a tough final bout, but Rob made it look easy, 45-42, and, even better, nobody got arrested.
The final meet was against GGFC's #2-seeded men's epee team. Before the meet, Frank had put on some really dark sunglasses and seemed to be saying something about being done. It was hard to tell, as his words were getting a bit slurred, perhaps with exhaustion. Luckily, he found some sports powder in a package labeled "AMPED!!!" In just a few minutes, he was good to go another 3 bouts.
The meet was held on the raised finals strip, which was bumpy and uneven, with something like speed bumps across it along its length. The meet started slowly. After the first 3 bouts, it was maybe 6-5. People watching were teasing us about the excitement of men's epee.
In the middle 3 bouts, there was some excitement when Rob fenced Dylan Bethel. Dylan also likes to fleche and there can be some body contact after the fleche. Rob again didn't back down, except that this time, the director came much harder and also gave Rob a red card for some incidental bell guard to mask
contact. Frank fenced well with Kip Cox, getting doubles and a single or two. Keith had a poor bout with Gjuri Ordody, and we were down at least 5 touches going into the last round of 3 bouts.
Frank had a good even bout with Gjuri, and Rob fenced well with Kip, so going into the final period, we were down 36-39 or 36-40. It occurred to me that Abdul would not be too excited about us losing to GGFC in the finals. Also, Dylan had just knocked me out of the Tucson NAC, so I wasn't too excited to lose, myself. Anyway, I fenced all right, and with the help of lots of cheering from everyone in the hall (who was excited to watch a close final, and
anyway was done with their own fencing), plus several strong fleches and a few counter-six ripostes, we managed to win, 45-44 with about 18 seconds left. (there was a dicey moment when we were down 42-44 with 33 seconds left, but luckily it didn't end that way, and feel free not to mention this part to Abdul).
-Keith
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