Nightsisters Unite! Saturday, October 11 marked the first Women’s Exclusive Tournament for Lightspeed Saber League, where the women’s event was the sole event of the weekend. Seven women were competing, including Maria Capiral, a new member of Lightspeed Academy who jumped in for her first tournament!
The pools began with two boxes: Becca Moore, Dinah Kolasa, and Moira Degnan in one, and Trish Bauler, Corinne Gonzales, Sam Kolasa, and Maria Capiral in the other. Moore dominated her pools, winning both matches against Degnan and D. Kolasa and moving her into the brackets with a bye. Degnan, the youngest fencer of the night, also did very well, pulling ahead early in her match with Kolasa with two clean hits and ultimately taking their match 7-6. Across the gym, S. Kolasa and Gonzales both won two of their three matches and Capiral won her match against Bauler.
With 100% promotion, all fencers moved onto the brackets. Moore had an automatic bye from her top placement in the pools, making the first matches between Degnan and Bauler, Capiral and Gonzales, and the Kolasa twins. Gonzales and Bauler both moved forward to the next branch, winning their matches 22-4 and 15-4. The Kolasas had a close match, though Dinah started with a large lead, making it to halftime ahead 7-1 against her sister. Right after the clock resumed, Sam scored a counterattack, bringing them to 6-7 at the start of the second half of the match. Reinvigorated, the two traded hits back and forth, with Dinah claiming a small lead with less than 15 seconds left. At the last second, Sam scored again, bringing her ahead 15-12 and moving her forward in the bracket.
Bauler moved forward against Moore, winning 11-9, and S. Kolasa moved up against Gonzales, winning 21-5. Moore and Gonzales went on to fight for bronze as Bauler and S. Kolasa geared up for finals.
FINALS
Gonzales and Moore took to the ring to fight against each other for the first time, having been in different pools earlier in the day and never having fought each other in a previous tournament. Moore had an early lead with two defensive hits, leading the match 10-3 at halftime. Gonzales soon found her footing, coming back with a series of clean hits and pulling ahead with a four point lead at 17-13. Moore followed up with another counter to re-even the score, leaving the two fencers at a nail-biting 17-18 in Moore’s favor. In the 20-point match, both fencers were fighting with more caution, knowing the first clean hit would win them the bronze medal. They both inched higher to the win, Gonzales first brought up her score to 18-18 and then 19-19 before Moore snuck in a clean hit to Gonzales’ hand, taking the match at 22-19 and ultimately awarding her third place!
Bauler and S. Kolasa got their rematch from the pools in the fight for gold, Bauler being the only one to beat Kolasa in their box in a 3-2 win. Trish “Castle” Bauler is known for her strong defenses (and counterattacks), a reputation Kolasa hadn’t practiced much against. Both fencers started conservatively with their attacks. Kolasa often stays on the back foot in matches, reacting to her opponents’ strikes to gauge her opening. She appeared hesitant to throw many attacks, looking for a way through Bauler’s defences without inviting a counterattack. Bauler’s skill successfully held Kolasa back, both scoring points one by one, trading blocks and only breaking through with indirects and first contact hits. Bauler was ahead by one point at halftime and widened her lead by the end of the match, winning gold with a final score of 7-3!
ROSTER & RESULTS
Nightsisters Unite Results:
1st - Patricia Bauler
2nd - Sam Kolasa
3rd - Becca Moore
Nightsisters Unite Competitors:
Becca Moore
Corinne Gonzales
Dinah Kolasa
Maria Capiral
Moira Degnan
Patricia Bauler
Sam Kolasa
A special thanks to Will Alonzo for the trophies, Gemma Francisco for the friendship bracelets, and all of the other fencers who acted as refs, coaches, and photographers at the event!