For select members of the women’s fencing team, the NCAA Regionals will be the last stepping stone before they reach the pinnacle of college fencing: the NCAA Championships. However, to reach the Championships at Harvard, the Red fencers must qualify individually at this Sunday’s Regionals at Brown. The Red will send a total of eleven fencers to Brown. In saber, freshmen Beverly Yang and Audrey Speer are the Red’s only qualifiers. Epee will send five fencers: seniors Tasha Hall, Sallie Dietrich and Katherine Thompson and freshmen Christie Robinson and Adelaide McDonnell. En garde: The women’s fencing team will take part in the NCAA Regionals this weekend in preparation for Championships, which will be hosted by Harvard next week. - By: Dan SalisburyFoil will send junior Analise Peleggi, freshman Lucia Rafinelli, sophomore Rebecca Hirschfeld and senior Dana Baines.

“From our region, eight people will qualify for each event … because all the best fencers from our region will compete [at Brown],” Dolgikh said.  “However saber will have nine.”

Yang and Speer have led the Cornell sabers all season, and as freshmen, will be fencing in their first Regional Championship. At the Ivy League Championships, Yang was one of two Red fencers to finish with a .500 record. While Speer began the tournament slowly, she finished the second day of Ivies with a 3-3 record.

The foil squad will send a member from each class; All-Ivy second team Hirschfeld highlights the squad, along with the experienced Baines. Rafinelli and Peleggi will both be fencing in their first Regional Championships.

“For foil, we have two qualifiers with a good chance: Dana Baines and Rebecca Hirschfeld,” Dolgikh said. “Dana is a very motivated fencer … she is very unconventional and very powerful.” 

The Epee squad will send the bulk of the Red fencers, with seniors Hall, Dietrich and Thompson leading the way ahead of Robinson and McDonnell. Dietrich and Hall have both been NCAA finalists the past two seasons.

“The Epee squad has showed the best discipline and the best dependency this year … all five are ready to go, ” Dolgikh said. “Christie Robinson and Adelaide McDonnell have fenced very well this season. … Christie finished 19-7.”

In addition, Robinson defeated Noam Mills, Harvard’s star fencer and NCAA runner-up, in the Ivy League Championships.

In the week leading up to NCAA Regionals, the Red fencers have been putting the finishing touches on their training at the Salle. 

“It really tests your stamina. … The people who do well in the final round have amazing endurance and are people who compete in world cups regularly,” Hall said.

In addition, with an influx of freshman talent to the Ivy League in for the 2009-10 season, Regionals will be more difficult than usual for the Red. 

“This is the first year I’m pretty nervous about Regionals. This is usually the most comfortable tournament for me,” Hall said.

But as Sunday looms nearer, any worries about training and the competitive field will have to be expelled.

“Physically we’re ready, tactically we’re ready, strategically we’re ready. … Everything will depend on emotional and mental preparation,” Dolgkih said.