The New York University men's fencing team opened its 2008-09 season by splitting a pair of matches against Stevens Institute of Technology at the Coles Sports Center on Tuesday night.

The Violets' "B" team lost the first match by a score of 18-9, while the "A" team rebounded for a 15-12 victory.

In the first match, NYU's sabre team posted a 7-2 win, while the epee team lost 7-2 and the foil team fell 9-0. 

Senior Brian Wang and freshman Ben Redding each went 3-0 in sabre, while sophomore Alfred Rizzo and freshman Ricky Woodward posted the epee wins for NYU. 

In the second match, the NYU sabre team won 6-3 and the epee won 5-4, while the foil team was nipped 5-4.

Junior Sam Roukas won both of his sabre bouts, while junior co-captain Jared Hammond and sophomore Hugo Rodrigues also won two.  

In epee, Woodward added two more victories, while junior co-captain Andrew Stanco also had two.

In foil, senior Alexander Kao posted a team-high two victories.

The Violets return to action this weekend when they compete at the Temple University Open on Sunday.