The New York University men's fencing team traveled to Cambridge, MA, to compete against tough national competition in the Eric Sollee Invitational at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Sunday, Feb. 1.

The Violets competed against three teams ranked in the U.S. College Fencing Coaches poll: #5 Princeton University, #6 University of Pennsylvania and #10 Duke University, as well as MIT, Brandeis University and Boston College.

NYU won three of its six matches, raising their overall record to 8-10 on the season in duel meet competition.

The Violets faced their toughest competition in the first three rounds, going against the three ranked teams right away. In the first round, the Violets went up against Princeton, and dropped a 17-10 decision to the Tigers, despite a 7-2 performance by the men's sabre team.

NYU went on to drop the next two rounds to Duke (15-12) and Pennsylvania (18-9), although the epee team managed to post 5-4 victories against both schools.

After the lunch break, the Violets rebounded to clinch three strong victories.

In the fourth round, NYU went up against host-school MIT, defeating the Engineers 18-9 with the epee, sabre and foil teams all posting victories.

The Violets then faced University Athletic Association rival Brandeis, downing the Judges by a score of 15-12.

NYU ended the day with a dominating 20-7 win over Boston College, marked by 7-2 performances by both the sabre and foil teams.

The Violets' top performer for the day was sophomore Hugo Rodrigues, who compiled a 15-3 record in men's sabre, including four 3-0 marks against Brandeis, Princeton, Duke, and MIT.

The men's fencing team will be back in action on Wednesday, February 11th, when they host Vassar College, Sacred Heart University and Columbia University.