EASTON, Pa. -- Five women's fencers finished in the top-30 at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championships on Saturday, the last competition of the season for the Fairleigh Dickinson women's fencing team.

Lafayette College hosted the event for the third straight year, as some of the nation's strongest teams competed for regional placements and qualification to the NCAA National Championships. The Mid-Atlantic South Regional, one of four NCAA Regional Championship events, featured athletes from over a dozen teams, including four programs currently ranked in the top-10 nationally (#8 Penn, #7 Temple, #6 Penn State, and defending NCAA National Champions, #1 Princeton). With all five of FDU's qualifiers finishing in the top-30 against stiff competition, the Knights ended their season with promising performances and continued to build their reputation as an up-and-coming program.

"I'm very proud of how all of our athletes competed, not only at the Regional, but all season long." Head Coach Christian Rivera said. "We are a comparatively young team, and we have a lot of growth ahead of us if we hope to be a top-tier program nationally. But our girls have shown an incredible amount of progress this season, and we have a lot of great results to build on heading into next year. We proved that our program is heading in the right direction."

Freshman foil-fencer Anna Braun (Neuss, Germany/) was the top performer for the Knights, finishing in 15th place in the region. Braun, who earned the bronze medal at last weekend's NIWFA Conference Championships, reached the third round of competition after earning victories over Alexandra Knobel (Lafayette), Desiree Ortega-Ferguson (Penn State) and Ilana Regenbogen (John's Hopkins) in round one and Epiphany Georges (Temple) and Wendy Zhou (Penn) in round two. In the third round of competition, Braun earned her final victory of the day over Ashley Tsue (Princeton) but would miss a shot at the finals by three slots.

Meanwhile, Nadine Abdelaziz (Bayonne, N.J./), a redshirt sophomore and the NIWFA Conference's silver-medalist, finished 19th on the day to secure a second top-20 finish in foil for the Knights. Abdelaziz was strong in the opening round, defeating Gabrielle Dastoli (UNC), Kelsey Oeler (Drew), Jackie Heath (John's Hopkins) and Jessica Polling (Haverford). In round two, Abdelaziz was able to earn victories over Rachel Chin (Penn) and Julia Lee (Duke) to finish just outside the top-18 and third round of competition.

Hanna Heldenmuth (Miami, Fla./Keystone National), a third-year starter for the Knights, ended the day in 18th place, rounding out the top-20 finishes for FDU. Heldenmuth, who finished in the top four at the NIWFA Conference Championships, reached the second round of competition after defeating Maura Thornton (UNC), Rachel Kalina (John's Hopkins), Anna-Lisa Ashman (Lafayette) and Clara Luneke (Stevens) in round one. In round two, Heldenmuth earned wins over Tiki Kastor (Temple), Rachel Kalina (John's Hopkins) and Caitlin Malone (UNC) to earn a spot in the top-18.

Junior Kathryn Heaney (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) ended the day ranked 27th in saber after defeating Jennifer Ligo (NJIT) and Diana Schoder (Haverford) in round one, narrowly missing a place in the second round of competition.

Team Captain, Yeliz Inalman (Fort Lee, N.J./Fort Lee), also a third-year fencer for FDU, would round out the competitors for the Knights, finishing 30th in epee competition. Despite strong matches in the opening round, including close 4-5 losses to Sienna Batzli (Stevens) and Nancy Smith (UNC), Inalman would miss making the cut for round two.

Without a qualifier to the NCAA National Championships, FDU concludes its competitive season and will look ahead to offseason preparation and recruiting. Still, with successful results at both Regional and Conference Championships, and with none of the current athletes graduating this year, the program has set a solid foundation moving forward, and the coaching staff hopes it can use the momentum it has gained during the postseason as a stepping-stone for the future.

"The end of the season gives us a lot of perspective," Assistant Coach Daniel Bass said. "We get to finally look back on our accomplishments – the progress, the results and successes we have earned together as a team. But we also have to shift our focus to assessing the things we can do to get better as athletes, as coaches and as a program. Right now, we get to rest and enjoy our achievements for a while, and we have a lot to be proud of. Then we have to use it as motivation and start taking the next step forward."

This year's NCAA National Championships, featuring the top finishers from the Mid-Atlantic/South Region, along with qualifiers from the Northeast, Midwest and West regions, will be held March 20-23 at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.