UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The University of California San Diego remains in sixth place at the National Collegiate Fencing Championships as the first day of women's competition came to a close Saturday at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Arena.

In Epee, senior Emma Zmurk sits in 10th with a record of 7-8. She holds a -1 indicator with 60 touches scored and 61 touches against. Freshman Tean Brooks is 19th after going 5-10 with a -12 indicator (51 TS/53 TA).

In Foil, junior Erica Kuen is 19th and senior Konami Masui is 21st. Kuen went 3-11 with a -32 indicator (27 TS/59 TA) and Masui posted a 2-12 mark with a -22 indicator (45 TS/67 TA).

In Saber, freshman Janna Aboudaher is 17th with a 5-10 record and a -11 indicator (52 TS/63 TA) and junior Julia Hill is just behind in 18th as she also went 5-10 but had a -18 indicator (49 TS/67 TA).

All weapons feature a 24-competitor field.

Nationals wrap up Sunday with two more rounds of round-robin bouts followed by semifinals and finals for the women. The top four fencers in each weapon advance to the semis with the winners fencing for first and second places and the non-advancing competitors tying for third.

In addition, the team championship will be decided Sunday. Each team receives a point for every victory its fencers score throughout the four days, with the highest scoring team - men and women combined - coming away with the national championship.

Currently leading the 19-team field is Notre Dame with 169 points. Penn State (158) is second, NJIT (111) is third, Duke (110) is fourth, and St. John's (97) is fifth, just three points in front of UC San Diego (94). The Tritons lead seventh-place North Carolina (92) by two points and eighth-place Boston College (90) by six points. Air Force (79) is ninth.

Any fencer finishing among the top-12 earns All-America honors. Two Triton men picked up the accolade Thursday as sophomore Vedran Markota was ninth in Epee and junior Benjamin Hadler was 10th in Foil.

Sunday's final day of competition begins at 6 a.m. PDT and can be followed with live video and live results. In addition, all finals will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

TRITON TIDBITS
• It is the third Nationals appearance for Tritons Benjamin Hadler (Foil) and Ziad Khayat (Epee).
• It is the second Nationals appearance for Tritons Konami Masui (Foil), Justin Park (Saber), and Emma Zmurk (Epee).
• Jana Aboudaher (Saber), Tean Brooks (Epee), Justin Cho (Saber), Julia Hills (Saber), Eric Kuen (Foil), Vedran Markota (Epee), and Lawrence Song (Foil) are all making their first appearance at Nationals.

THE TEAM
For the first time, UC San Diego is fielding a full team of 12 at Nationals, meaning that two men and two women will compete in each of the three weapons. The Triton roster includes three freshmen, two sophomores, four juniors, and three seniors. UC San Diego is one of just three institutions with a full team as Notre Dame and Penn State also have 12 competitors. Here's a look at UC San Diego's roster.

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