Livingston HS Girls Fencing Made History By Winning State Championship

On Thursday, February 27th, one day before the planets were to align in the sky, earth-shattering cheers erupted in the Morris Hills High School gym at 8:19 PM: WE WON! GO Livingston!!

In the post-match email to all fencers and parents, Head Coach Jeanette Ng proudly pronounced: “This historic first fencing girls team state title wasn't just handed to them, they earned it through countless late nights, sweat, and determination! After years of coming close but falling short, they've finally brought home the championship our program has dreamed about for so long! This victory belongs to each of you, and it will forever be remembered as the moment that changed Livingston's girls fencing history forever!"

Introduction

To say that the LHS team had a tough time at the championship match would be a monumental understatement. They arrived at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway with an undefeated 14-0 season, the most significant and gratifying victory being the 16-11 quarterfinal win over Chatham, who had brutally terminated their season in last year’s semifinals and the final two years ago, both with a razor-thin difference of 1 point with score of 14-13.

In high school team fencing, there are 3 rounds in a match, with each round having 9 games, a.k.a. “bouts”, therefore there are 27 bouts in total. Every round starts with 3 saber bouts, followed by 3 foil bouts, ending with 3 épée bouts. The first fencer to get 5 points wins the bout. The first team to top 14 bouts wins the match, so 14-13 is the closest that a match can get.

From smooth sailing to cliffhanger

In the first round of the championship match against Columbia High School from Maplewood, LHS jumped to a head start of 3-0 by sweeping all 3 saber bouts with easy wins (Junior Antara Nayak 5:2, Senior Valentina Zheng 5:1, Senior Sophia Zheng 5:2). Columbia fought back to 3-all by sweeping the foil bouts, albeit all with tight scores (Junior Maya Leung 4:5, Senior Charlotte Yang 4:5, Junior Grace Wang 3:5). LHS retook a commanding lead 6-3 after sweeping back the épée bouts with relative ease (Sophomore Kailin Kang 5:4, Junior Kayla Fang 5:3, Freshman Caroline Li 5:1). It seemed as if LHS could cruise to victory, just like the 17-12 semifinal over Hunterdon Central the night before. Or, it could be a repeat of LHS’s early-season win over Columbia when LHS got to 14 very early, so it turned into a practice match for their substitute fencers.

However, Columbia didn't come to the finals just to get steamrolled. Their spirits were sky-high after consecutive 14-13 wins in the two previous rounds, and they felt history was on their side because they have collected more titles (16) than any other school in the 49-year history of the NJSIAA girls fencing tournament, and their last championship was exactly ten years ago. Much like Livingston, they were also out for vengeance, having ended their last two seasons with tight losses to LHS (12-15 and 13-14).

Columbia’s revenge took shape in the second round as they evened the score to 9-all, winning 1 saber (Antara 1:5, Sophia 5:2, Valentina 5:4), all 3 foil (Maya 1:3, Grace 0:5, Charlotte 2:5), and 2 épée bouts (4:3, 5:4, 0:5). Their momentum could not be stopped by the last bout in which LHS épée captain Kayla Fang took a swift rout, as Columbia started the third and final round with two more saber wins (Sophia 1:5, Antara 4:5), leading at 11-9.

The three types of modern fencing—saber, foil, and épée—have different equipment, rules, and techniques. The 27 bouts in a match are evenly split between the 3 types, so it is very difficult for a team to win if they only have a single strong suit, or if there's a weak link in their lineup.

Each foil and épée bout has a countdown clock of 3 minutes. If a fencer wins 5 points before the clock goes to 0, they win the bout outright. When the clock runs out, whoever leads would win; if the scores are tied, one extra sudden-death point is played.

This season’s LHS team has strong saber and épée squads, with 69% and 83% win rates in the regular season, respectively, while foil’s win rate was just over 50%. For the 4 playoff games against tougher components, saber improved to 86%, épée at a respectable 58%, while foil dropped to 33%, meaning on average foil could tease out one win out of every 3 bouts.

Valentina Zheng, a senior who has been in the team throughout her 4 years in LHS, captain of the saber squad as well as the overall team, deeply understood the stakes as she stepped on the strip for the last saber bout of the match. If she couldn’t hold her bout either, LHS would all but certainly lose the match within the next 3 foil bouts. With a 34-5 season record, the highest in the team, Valentina kept her composure throughout the bout, and decisively hit the final touch at 4-all. LHS is now only one bout behind at 10-11.

Unfortunately, the next two bouts (Junior Mikayla Chin 1:5, Maya 3:5) extended their foil’s losing streak in this match to 8. Columbia was a single bout away from winning it all, and Livingston’s back was tighter against the wall than Luke in the trash compactor. LHS had to win each and every one of the last 4 bouts or go home empty-handed again like in 2023. The Columbia team was completely fired up with their supporters cheering at the top of their lungs, as they could almost touch the championship and their sweet revenge. Almost!

Saving the match

LHS’s last foil bout fell on Charlotte Yang, another senior and the captain of the foil squad. She started in épée and did quite well in the last 3 seasons (62-24), but selflessly switched to foil this season to help the team. As the only foil fencer in the team with a winning record (29-9), she is Livingston’s last and only hope to stay alive in the match and the season.

Charlotte’s opponent had a better season record of 28-11 and got the first touch for an early lead. Under unfathomable pressure, Charlotte looked extraordinarily calm and confident, as she fought back to 1-all and then punched ahead to a 5:2 win. She started to cry after the final bout and couldn’t stop for a good 10 minutes. “Going into the third foil bout with the score 13-10, I knew we were down a substantial amount but I also had a lot of faith in my team and myself to make a comeback. I stepped into the bout very nervous, aware that I had to win in order to start our way to 14,” Charlotte reflected afterward.

“However, the second I started fencing, I had the sense that we were going to make that huge comeback—and we did. When we won, I was incredibly emotional because I was so happy to see us accomplish something we had fought so hard for so long, and I cried out of the pride I felt for our team. I also felt proud of myself—even though I had lost the previous two, I was able to fight for our team and win foil’s most important one, and as a long time épée fencer who switched to foil this year, I couldn’t believe that we had made it this far. I’m so happy to end off my last season at LHS like this and I’m endlessly proud of our team and our coaches for fighting so hard throughout the season to be able to get us the title of state champions.”

Her faith and trust in the team and her teammates are never misplaced. Caroline Li, a freshman épée fencer, who injured her ankle at the North American Junior Olympics tournament merely two weeks ago, fought through the pain in the previous two matches as well as this one, and pulled LHS to one game from even with a 5:2 win. Then sophomore Kailin Kang made the unthinkable 13-all happen with another win at 5:3. The roof and walls of the gym could barely contain the jet-plane-level screaming and shouting of the Livingston crowd, with the tide and momentum now completely on their side.

Winning it all

When Kayla Fang, the junior épée captain, put on her mask for the third and final time in the match, she didn’t hope she would make history for the team. She KNEW it! Even though she fell behind twice early in the match at 0:1 and 1:2, her steady steps, tight defense, and lethal attacks ultimately led the LHS girls fencing team to their manifest destiny at 5:2 with 45 seconds left on the bout clock. Unlike the match itself, there was zero suspense when the Player of the Game Award presented by Big State Sports, the broadcaster for the match, was announced.

In her interviews, Kayla said that it was a long journey to get here, and she’s extremely happy that they made it in the end. She then explained her game plan with the immense pressure of the whole team and the entire season on her shoulders: “I was really glad that we were able to tie the score. The 13-10 score was a little bit scary, but I was confident that I could win. I had an idea of what she (Dilinna Oraedu, her last opponent) was going to do, so I knew what I needed to do to execute. I needed to regulate my emotions in the moment, and make sure I was level headed, that’s all I was focusing on.”

Valentina Zheng, the senior saber and team captain, also noted: “I'm really proud of the team this year for becoming better athletes both on and off the strip. We've really improved in keeping up our spirits and energy regardless of the situation, and I truly believe that is why we were able to come back from 10-13 and win 14-13. The state title has been within our reach for the past three years, so I'm overjoyed that we finally made it. Thank you to all of my teammates and coaches for fighting so hard this year!” Incidentally, she won her 100th, 101st, and 102nd bouts of her LHS fencing career all in this match. What a fitting and gratifying conclusion!

Valentina goes by “Val” with her friends. To the confusion and amazement of everyone on the team, another “Val Zheng” was surreptitiously added to the roster two days ago when they beat Chatham in the quarterfinal. Sophia Zheng, another senior saber fencer, got a surprise call from the LHS principal, Mr. Amro Mohammed, congratulating her as the valedictorian of the 2025 class. After the championship match, Sophia said that “it was the most memorable season ever not only because of our final victory but also my teammates who have shown me that anything is possible”. To her teammates and schoolmates, it is she who has been demonstrating how to achieve the seemingly impossible both in academics and in sports!

In Coach Ng’s email, she also asked the community to “give (the fencers) the recognition they deserve! This would mean everything to these fencers who've not only represented our school with incredible heart but have literally rewritten Livingston's athletic history books.” Here is the roster of all the fencers to recognize and celebrate (* indicating appearances in the championship match):

• Saber
  • Anika Gupta - Freshman
  • Antara Nayak - Junior *
  • Megan Rose Rabe - Sophomore
  • Sophia Zheng - Senior *
  • Valentina Zheng - Senior * (team and squad captain)
• Foil
  • Mikayla Chin - Junior *
  • Maya Leung - Junior *
  • Grace Wang - Junior *
  • Charlotte Yang - Senior * (squad captain)
• Épée
  • Julia Cheung - Junior
  • Kayla Fang - Junior * (squad captain)
  • Kailin Kang - Sophomore *
  • Caroline Li - Freshman *
  • Siri Patil - Sophomore
• Coaches
  • Jeanette Ng (head coach)
  • Greg Puccio (head coach)
  • Alice Ng
  • Andrew Richardson
  • Christy Hernandez

Conclusion

Congratulations to all LHS girls fencing team members, coaches, staff, parents, and their supportive community! The heart-wrenching oh-so-close losses in the past two seasons made this year’s history-making victory triply sweet, and as the legendary LHS Quiz Bowl team would hail: Ten thousand years for Liv fencing!