It's IFA championship time for M. Fencing

In an act of revenge, the Penn men's fencing team marked the end of their regular season with an upset. With Columbia's loss to Penn ruining their perfect Ivy record, it had to settle for with a tie with Princeton for Ivy League Champion. The Elis have also only dropped one meet, and Princeton was previously defeated by the Lions. Revenge was the real aim of the Quakers last weekend. Last year, after being ahead 13-8, Penn ran out of steam and lost to the Lions 14-13. This time, though, Penn left nothing to chance and cleared Columbia 17-10. "It was a whole team contribution," Penn coach Boris Tsypenyuk said. "It was wonderful how people came in and they wanted to beat them." All three weapons managed to win their mini-meets, led by the epee team (6-3) and freshman epee Michael Leiseca, who managed to go untouched in two of his three Columbia bouts. "Our epee team really surprised the heck out of Columbia," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said, " because they did not think they would be that good." Foil and sabre cut it a little closer with a 5-4 score, but sophomore Cliff Bayer remained undefeated against the Lions. Along with their sweet victory, Penn also faced defeat in the face of the Nittany Lions. Our western neighbors managed to bring down the Quakers in a 14-13 loss. "Penn State is a power house," Tsypenyuk said. "Still this was a good day. Those two matches really inspired them." Columbia later went on to beat Penn State. "I don't think that people realized we had a chance to beat [Penn State]," Micahnik said. "There were a couple of bouts we had no business losing." This weekend the team travels up for the IFA tournament hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This meet involves both team and individual competition, with performance in the former determining a fencer's qualification in the latter. With this meet, the team returns to individual competition, with Regionals and finally NCAAs coming up in next few weeks. "Fencing is very egocentric type of sport," Tsypenyuk said. "You try to dominate one-on-one on the strip and then you try to dominate the meet." With most fencers coming out of clubs, team fencing is a new experience for them, something that freshmen have to accustom themselves to earlier in the season. "The individual is a priority in fencing," Tsypenyuk said. "But you have to join your ambition with the team's ambition." Penn is going to meet some familiar competition in Cambridge this weekend, including all the Ivies. Penn will also see Brown, MIT and Boston College for the first time. "There are no softies in there," Micahnik said. "There is a greater density of quality in the IFA than anywhere else." Both coaches are very optimistic going into this weekend. "I am expecting a medal," Micahnik said. It will not be easy for Penn with their number one foiler, Bayer, remaining in Pennsylvania and their number two foiler, David Cohen, still recovering from an injury. "I expect the best," Tsypenyuk said. "They are really coming along as a team." With their last victory in this tournament in 1990, Penn is looking to slip in another victory before the new millennium.