(stay tuned throughout the day, as we recap all six MFC weapons and hope to catch up with the action at the IFAs)
* The two finalists – Notre Dame's Sarah Borrmann (3) and Ohio State's Margarita Tschomakova (4) – improved slightly on their seeds entering the day (neither was seeded top-5 after the pools/entering the DE, with Borrmann 8th/5-1 in pools and Tschomakova 6th/5-0 in pools). Borrmann's loss in the pools came against Northwestern's Courtney Park (#37 seed; 3-5).
* Borrmann's first big test in the direct-elimination came in the round-of-16 against Northwestern's Annelise Eeman (#16 initial seed/#11 after pools), with Borrmann eeking out the 15-13 win. She then won another close bout (15-12) in the quarterfinals, knocking out Ohio State freshman Emily Cheng (the recent Junior Olympic champion who entered the MFCs as #5 seed and was top-seeded for the DE). Borrmann's semifinal bout produced a 15-11 win over ND teammate Ashley Serrette, followed by a surprisingly easy 15-8 final against Tschomakova.
* Tschomakova had a fairly easy road into the quartterfinals, thanks to a round-of-16 bout (15-6) against her OSU teammate Larissa Kenney (the #52 seed who jumped to #11 after the pools). Tschomakova then defeated Northwestern's Adrienne Shon in a 15-7 quarterfinal and earned a spot in the finals by edging another OSU teammate (Falencia Miller) in a thrilling 15-14 semifinal.
* The other semifinalists included the pre-tournament seed favorite and OSU newcomer Miller (#2 seed entering DE), along with the ND senior Serrette (who made a jump from her #8 pre-MFC seed and also moved up from her #5 seed heading into the DE). Miller reached the semifinals after a 15-11 win over Whitney White, but her bid for a spot in the final came up one point short (in the loss to Tschomakova). Serrette topped ND teammate Beatriz Almedia in the quartefinals (15-6), before her loss to Borrmann.
* In addition to Serrette, the other fencer in the final-8 who improved most on her initial seed was Northwestern's Shon (#10 pre-event seed; #3 seed after pools; placed 6th) ... the only fencer who failed to meet her projected top-8 finish was ND sophomore Eileen Hassett (#2 initial seed; #4 after pools; placed 9th), a 2008 All-American after placing 5th at the NCAAs.
* The final top-16 included only one fencer – OSU's Kinney – who did not enter the day among the top-16 seeds. In fact, the upstart Kenney was not even among the top-50 seeds entering the tournament (#52, finished 12th). Kinney had a solid 5-1 showing in the pools, with her only loss coming against the eventual champion Borrman (2-5) while her key pool win was a 5-3 bout against Wayne State's Anna Kotov (#15 seed; finished 16th). Kinney jumped up to the #11 seed entering the DE, where she posted two wins before losing to her OSU teammate Tschomakova in the round-of-16 (6-15).
* The two round-of-16 upsets saw #13 Almeida edge her ND teammate Hassett (#4) in a 15-14 bout, while Northwestern's White (#10) squeaked by OSU's Kiara Moore (#7) in another one-point nailbiter.
* Results for the final-16 women's sabre fencers are included below (upsets, based on seeding, are in italics). An expanded final list for the top-16 (including their initial seeds and adjusted/pre-DE seeding) also is included below:
MFC Women's Sabre Round-of-16
(1) Emily Cheng (OSU) def. (16) Anna Kotov (WSU) ... 15-3
(2) Falencia Miller (OSU) def. (15) Jillian Mahen (NW) ... 15-1
(3) Adrienne Shon (NW) def. (14) Allison Keller (NW) ... 15-11
(13) Beatriz Almeida (ND) def. (4) Eileen Hassett (ND) ... 15-14
(5) Ashley Serrette (ND) def. (12) Ashley McLemore (DET) ... 15-6
(6) Margarita Tschomakova (OSU) def. (11) Larissa Kenney (NW) ... 15-6
(10) Whitney White (NW) def. (7) Kiara Moore (OSU) ... 15-14
(8) Sarah Borrmann (ND) def. (9) Annelise Eeman (NW) ... 15-13
Quarterfinals
(8) Sarah Borrmann (ND) def. (1) Emily Cheng (OSU) ... 15-3
(2) Falencia Miller (OSU) def. (10) Whitney White (NW) ... 15-11
(6) Margarita Tschomakova (OSU) def. (3) Adrienne Shon (NW) ... 15-7
(5) Ashley Serrette (ND) def. (13) Beatriz Almeida (ND) ... 15-9
Semifinals
(6) Margarita Tschomakova (OSU) def. (2) Falencia Miller (OSU) ... 15-14
(8) Sarah Borrmann (ND) def. (5) Ashley Serrette (ND) ... 15-11
Final
(8) Sarah Borrmann (ND) def. (6) Margarita Tschomakova (OSU) ... 15-8
2009 MFC Women's Sabre Final Top-16 Data (field of 54)
1. Sarah Borrmann (Notre Dame) ... #3 initial seed/#8 pre-DE ... 5-1 in pools (+17)
2. Margarita Tschomakova (Ohio State) ... #4/#6 ... 5-0 in pools (+18)
3. Falencia Miller (OSU) ... #1/#2 ... 6-0 in pools (+25)
3. Ashley Serrette (ND) ... #8/#5 ... 5-0 in pools (+20)
5. Emily Cheng (OSU) ... #5/#1 ... 6-0 in pools (+26)
6. Adrienne Shon (Northwestern) ... #1/#3 ... 6-0 in pools (+23)
7. Whitney White (NW) ... #6/#10 ... 5-1 in pools (+16)
8. Beatriz Almeida (ND) ... #7/#13 ... 5-1 in pools (+11)
9. Eileen Hassett (ND) ... #2/#4 ... 6-0 in pools (+22)
10. Kiara Moore (OSU) ... #13/#7 ... 5-1 in pools (+19)
11. Annelise Eeman (NW) ... #16/#9 ... 5-1 in pools (+17)
12. Larissa Kenney (OSU) ... #52/#11 ... 5-1 in pools (+15)
13. Ashley McLemore (Detroit) ... #12/#12 ... 5-1 in pools (+14)
14. Allison Keller (NW) ... #11/#14 ... 4-1 in pools (+11)
15. Jillian Mahen (NW) ... #9/#15 ... 4-1 in pools (+9)
16. Anna Kotov (Wayne State) ... #15/#16 ... 4-2 (+8)