M. Fencing disappointed with losses to Lions

For the Penn men's fencing team, this has been a roller-coaster season. The squad started out slowly, then picked up speed at mid-season before dropping an excruciating match by one bout against Princeton. An impressive win over Harvard gave hope that the Quakers were still on the rise. But the final jolt in their ride was a downward fall, as Columbia toppled Penn 15-12 Saturday, dashing any of the Quakers' wishes for another Ivy League title. On a generally gloomy day in New York where a beatable Columbia team surprised the Quakers, Penn (5-5, 2-2) was also ousted by formidable Penn State, 20-7. While the Nittany Lions are perennial rivals, it was Columbia which Penn expected and needed to beat. A Penn win along with a Princeton loss the next day would have given the Quakers a share of the Ivy title. Penn just could not take care of its side of the bargain. As has happened often this year, Penn jumped out to an early lead. Sometimes this has proved the springboard to a successful match, but other times it has led to smashed expectations. Saturday was an example of the latter case. After winning six of the first nine bouts, the team subsequently fizzled, letting Columbia tie after the second round and take the match in the third. Although the close defeat was a familiar result to Penn, the records of the individual squads were not. Epee, which has recently struggled, kept the team in the match Saturday with a 6-3 record. Alex Edelman, who has been hampered by an injured hand for most of the year, exploded for half of those wins en route to a flawless 6-0 day. Conversely, sabre and foil, which have led the team this year, suffered frustrating days. George Kalmar went his usual 3-0, but the rest of sabre could not keep up the pace, winning just one other bout. Foil took the biggest fall, losing seven bouts in a reversal of their usual record. Columbia freshman Dan Kellner dominated them for a 3-0 record. It all added up to a disturbing loss. "Losing closely is an old story, only for a change the epee team had a good day. Foil and sabre just didn't fence as well as they could have," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "Columbia fenced with good fundamentals and was straightforward in their style. We tried to get too fancy and it didn't work." For all of its mistakes, Penn still was tantalizingly close to victory in the last round. It looked probable that Penn could avenge last year's 14-13 loss to Columbia when the Quakers were knotted at nine bouts apiece with the Lions with one round to go. But Columbia proved too strong as its momentum carried it to six more wins and the match. "When we were tied, Coach Micahnik told us that it was a new match and we had to all fence our best to win." Edelman said. "We just couldn't do it." After the draining Columbia loss, Penn had the talent-loaded Penn State team waiting for it. The Quakers were easy prey for the Nittany Lions. Two of the top fencers in the country, Serge Lilov and Jason Levin, led the Nittany Lions' charge that neutralized all of Penn's weapons. The sizzling Kalmar, who had not lost a bout in two weeks, dropped two. Only Edelman could not be stopped, contributing to epee's four wins, two more than sabre and three more wins than the foil squad. "I have mixed feelings about the meet because while I had the best day of my season, we lost both matches which is more important than my personal successes," Edelman said. "It's not the way we wanted to end our Ivy season." Even though the fencing season continues, most of the remaining events are individual-oriented, including the Junior Olympics next week in San Jose. Since most of the postseason events these days are for individual fencers, the Ivy League championship, one of the last team-oriented goals, has accrued added importance. Each time an opportunity to capture the title is wasted, there is no solace. "We thought we had a legitimate shot to win the title this year and we couldn't." Micahnik said. "You never know what the next year will bring so you have to win now. You can't wait for next year."