USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Women’s Epee Team finished in sixth place in a field of 26 teams on Sunday at the Leipzig World Cup in Germany.

Anchored by London Olympic team medalist Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas), Team USA’s lineup included her older sister and London teammate Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas), 2013 Cadet World Team member Amanda Sirico (Bowie, Md.) and former National Champion Natalie Vie (Phoenix, Ariz.)

The Americans opened with a 45-30 victory over Spain in the table of 32 and went on to upset Korea, the 2012 Olympic silver medalists, 44-41, in the table of 16.

Team USA fenced China, the reigning Olympic Champions, in the quarter-finals, but lost the bout, 45-23.

In the 5^th – 8^th place table, Team USA held a 28-27 lead against Ukraine going into the final bout between Courtney Hurley and 2012 Olympic Champion Yana Shemyakina (UKR). Flying through the three-minute period, Hurley racked up 17 touches to Shemyakina’s eight to give Team USA a 45-35 win.

Team USA fenced a low-scoring final match against Italy, but the match came down to the final touch with Italy taking the victory, 26-25.

On Saturday, three U.S. athletes fenced in the table of 64 of the individual competition.

Seeded 14^th in the tournament, Courtney Hurley was exempt from the preliminary rounds on Friday, but finished 37^th after a 15-12 loss to Nadine Stahlberg (GER).

Francesca Bassa (Houston, Texas), a 2009 Junior World team medalist and Stanford senior, went undefeated in pools on Friday to advance directly to the table of 64 as the 29^th seed.

Bassa lost her opening bout to eventual bronze medalist Man Wai Kong (HKG), 15-13, and finished in 43^rd place – her first top-64 international result of the new season.

Fencing at her first Senior World Cup, two-time NCAA Champion Katarzyna Trzopek (San Carlos, Calif.) finished the pools with a 4-1 result and advanced through the preliminary tables to qualify for the table of 64 where she placed 48^th after a 15-6 loss to Shemyakina.

Click here to view complete individual results.

Click here to view complete team results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

Leipzig Team Epee World Cup
1. Hungary
2. Russia
3. China
4. Estonia
5. Italy
6. USA
7. Ukraine
8. Romania

Leipzig Individual Epee World Cup
1. Violetta Kolobova (RUS)
2. Yana Shemyakina (UKR)
3. Emese Szasz (HUN)
3. Man Wai Kong (KHG)
5. Injeong Choi (KOR)
6. Yiwen Sun (CHN)
7. Imke Duplitzer (SWE)
8. Olena Kryvtska (UKR)

37. Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
43. Francesca Bassa (Houston, Texas)
48. Katarzyna Trzopek (San Carlos, Calif.)
89. Dina Bazarbayeva (Houston, Texas)
97. Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
98. Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
134. Amanda Sirico (Bowie, Md.)
168. Courtney Dumas (Shaker Heights, Ohio)
170. Natalie Vie (Phoenix, Ariz.)
173. Caira Moreira-Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
175. Lauren Willock (Astoria, N.Y.)
192. Victoria Mo (Irvine, Calif.)