M. Fencing gets only one win in finale

When Jedi masters Obi-Wan and Yoda died, Luke Skywalker utilized their spirits to guide his light saber to slay the Empire. When the Maestro passed away last weekend, the Penn men's fencing team hoped that they too could call on his spirit to slay the enemy. In their match this past weekend at Hutchinson Gymnasium, the last regular season match of the season, the Quakers (5-5, 1-3 Ivy League) took on Columbia, Rutgers and defending national champion Penn State. Penn opened up against Columbia. In this highly-contested Ivy League matchup, the Red and Blue were fighting for pride. With the Ivy title on the line between Princeton and Yale, the Quakers looked to salvage their conference record. Up 13-8, the Quakers needed only one more victory in the last six to clinch the victory. Neither the epees nor the foils could win a bout as the Lions rallied to win, 14-13. "It was more than disappointing," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "I think people were trying to finish off their opposition instead of win the bout." Immediately after the loss, the Quakers had to face Rutgers. Penn's depth advantage came into play as the Quakers won a close 14-13 match. For the sabres, junior Sandy Agashiwala won all three of his bouts. Three freshmen foils looked impressive, as David Liu won all three of his bouts, and Cliff Bayer and Rick Bernstein each won two. The final match of the day was against national powerhouse Penn State. The four-time defending national champions and undefeated Nittany Lions were heavily favored. Penn's loss was respectable at 16-11. Bayer went 3-0 against a strong Penn State foil team. He beat their No. 1 fencer, Gang Lu, 5-0. Liu and fellow freshman James Lyons struggled as they were only able to post one victory between them. The sabres went up against a difficult Penn State squad led by Serge Lilov, who may be a NCAA individual and team champion in a few weeks. Only sophomore Alex Platt was able to defeat Lilov. "No loss is good, but if any loss respectable, it was this one," Micahnik said. "We lost some good bouts to some good fencers." The epees struggled in all three matches. Against Rutgers, they were only able to come up with one victory. The post-season begins this weekend at St. Johns. If the Quakers want to have any chance of being a legitimate threat, the epees are must start winning. "They are in a weapon slump," said Micahnik. "They are going to have to perform like they are capable of performing." In this battle of intergalactic importance, the dark side was just too powerful to overcome. Only now, the men's fencers won't have to wear the gold metallic bikinis that Jabba the Hut made Princess Leia wear.