March 27, 2015, by Lee Chrimes

BUCS Big Wednesday 2015: University of Nottingham Fencing put Exeter to the sword

University of Nottingham Fencing Women’s 1st team put in an outstanding team performance to beat Exeter University in the final of the Trophy Cup competition, one of Nottingham’s four cup final wins as part of ‘Big Wednesday‘, the highlight of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) 2014/15 season.

Held at Loughborough University ‘s sports facilities throughout Wednesday March 25, the final was always set to be a close affair between two teams with strong track records. Whilst Nottingham have been unbeaten during 2014/15, Exeter had lost just one match against Southampton in their league.

Coaching staff Paul Sibert, assisted by Mike Bales, made the tactical decision to put the Sabreurs first, confident that our talented team of Julie Pages and Jacqueline Cordell and 1st team Captain Emma Duxon would give us an opening lead. And that is exactly what happened, as the Sabreurs provided Nottingham with a 31 point gap, beating Exeter 45-14.

This result somewhat took the pressure off the Nottingham foilists who came up against a strong Exeter trio. Exeter managed to close the point gap beating them 41-17, leaving just a 7 point margin between the two sides going into the final weapon.

It was then down to the three Epee fencers – Emily Richardson, Nikoleta Rankova and Emma Duxon (fencing again) – to defend this gap. After a few bouts, it became clear that the victory was to be ours. With some of the best performances they have put in all season, Nottingham stormed to a a5-25 victory in epee. Final score 117-80! With a BUCS Gold in hand, the team now look ahead to their league playoff against Manchester University on April 22, in which they look to gain promotion to the BUCS premier league.

You can relive the excitement through the BUCS website, who have both picture galleries from the day’s events and a live feed of results that charts our teams’ progress to victory. You can also follow University of Nottingham Fencing on Twitter for more photos and news from the finals.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn