Porec, Croatia - SCAD Fencing returned to Europe last week for the European Junior Fencing Championships. The event brought the finest fencers under the age of 20 from around Europe to compete in both team and individual events. The Bees had two participants - sophomore twin sisters Yana and Hanna Andreyenka of Belarus. With both sisters placed highly in the World Junior Rankings, each looked to make their mark at the tournament.

The tourney opened with the typical round robin format - pools of 7 fencers competing to see which would emerge from their groups into the knockout stages of the event. Placed in Pool #8, Yana Andreyenka opened with a loss to #17 ranked Magdalena Lawksa of Poland. Wins over Genevieve Clarke (Ireland), Kateryna Budenko (Ukraine), Nazli Ceren Alioglu (Turkey), and Sofia Gaydos (Spain) were enough to secure Yana a place in the elimination rounds, despite an upset loss to Israel's Lior Druck. Placed in a 6-fencer Pool (#9), Hanna opened with losses to #22 ranked Aliya Dhuique-Hein of Germany, and Isabela Sedlakova of Czech Republic. Hanna grabbed wins over Naja Vaaben (Denmark), Emilija Maslobojeva (Latvia), and Erika Nekifor (Hungary) to advance out of the group stages.

Hanna faced off against Great Britain's Bronwen Granville in her first knockout bout. Andreyenka came in as the strong favorite, over 50 places ahead of her opponent in the rankings. Her strength was obvious as she moved to an early lead and closed to bout out with a 15-6 scoreline. Her next opponent, Angelina Kononova, would not prove so easy. #14 in the World Junior Rankings, Russia's Kononova was the favored competitor in the bout. Hannah fought her to a standstill before edging her more highly ranked opponent out 15-13 to move forward in an upset victory. Yana Andreyenka had enjoyed a bye in her first knockout round as a result of her strong showing in the group stage. Her second round opponent was Poland's Malwina Kolodziejczyk. Closely matched in the rankings, they proved closely matched on the strip also. Eventually, Kolodziejczyk pulled away to take the bout 15-12 in a close match.

In the round of 16, Hanna Andreyenka enjoyed a rematch from her group stage with a match against Aliya Dhuique-Hein of Germany. Although the German had taken their pool match 5-4, it was Andreyenka who took the most away from the match. Adjusting to her opponent's style, Hanna dominated in a 15-6 win. The victory brought Hanna up against the most dangerous opponent in the entire field - World Junior #1 ranked Martina Favaretto of Italy. After a valiant effort, Hanna fell 15-6 in their quarter-final bout. The result was enough to earn her 7th place overall, with sister Yana coming in 24th in the final standings.