NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Wellesley College fencing team opened the 2011-12 season with a solid performance at the 2011 New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference "The Big One" Fall Invitational.

11 Wellesley fencers competed at the event, with nine of the Blue's entries advancing past the pool play round. 

Leading the way for the Blue were first-year foil fencers Carla The and Oleander Furman and junior Mariami Bekauri in sabre.  The finished in 11th place overall, compiling a perfect 5-0 mark in pool play. In the elimination round, she posted two wins, narrowly missing a top-10 finish. Furman went 5-1 in pool play and recorded one win in the elimination round to finish 21st. Bekauri also had a fantastic day, going 4-2 in pool play and finished 26th. In the elimination bouts, she recorded a win before falling to Robin Shin of MIT, the eventual sabre champion.

In other sabre action for Wellesley, sophomore Dania Wright finished 31st overall, going 3-3 in pool play and also posting a win in the elimination round. Senior Zsofia Schweger and junior Ivory Xinyue Wu finished 38th and 41st in sabre, as Schweger picked up four pool play wins and Wu added three. 

Rounding out the tournament for the Blue, junior Elise Dong (49th) and first-years Amanda Hui (50th) and Diana Lee (53rd) all posted two wins in the pool play round. 

Wellesley fencing next competes at the 2011 Vassar Invitational next Saturday.