Weekend not kind to W. Fencing

How quickly things change. The Penn women's fencing team went into Saturday's home meet with Yale upbeat, courtesy of winning its final four matches last weekend. A day and a half and two tough losses later, the Quakers left yesterday's meet at Temple less enthused, with just a .500 record for the weekend. On Saturday, at home in Weightman Gym, the Quakers (7-5, 0-2) fell to the undefeated Eli (7-0, 3-0) 19-13. Facing a tough Yale foil squad, Penn simply did not show up -- losing 13-3. Sophomore Margo Katz was the only Quaker fencer able to win a single bout, coming one point from a personal 4-0 sweep. The epee, in contrast, prevailed over their Yale counterparts. But the 10-6 margin of victory was not enough to turn the overall outcome in the Quakers' favor. Senior Emmy Cho went 4-0 and senior captain Olivia Leon won three of her four bouts in pace the way, limiting Yale All-American Whitney Anderson to a 2-2 record on the day. "We've fenced these teams for so many years, we know their fencers and their styles and what we're in for," senior captain Olivia Leon said. "It was still a fight for every point." Coming off of their second Ivy loss late Saturday -- and a tough one at that -- it seemed to drain the Quakers. Yesterday morning, in their third meet this season decided by a single point, the Quakers came up short for the second day in a row, losing to Temple 17-15. "It really did come down to the last bout," Penn head coach Dave Micahnik said. "I was unhappy with this weekend. It was not helpful [for the post-season] at all." Facing Temple to start off the quad-meet on Sunday, luck was not on the Quakers' side. Senior foil Cindy Kwan was forced out of three of her four matches with a lingering wrist injury. "Once Cindy was taken off, she did a great job of coaching the foil team," Leon said. The depleted Quaker foil squad, however, still faltered for the second straight day, losing their half of the meet 11-5, while the epee came through with a solid 10-6 margin of victory. Leon and freshman Kari Coley both went 3-1 en route to the epee squad's win. "It was a question of one point going one way," said Cho. "The team had several 5-4 losses." Following two tough defeats at the hands of Yale and Temple, the Quakers were happy to see two less experienced teams across the strip at the end of yesterday's quad-meet. The Quakers handled Johns Hopkins with relative ease, 24-8, and crushed Fairleigh Dickinson 27-5 to leave yesterday's meet with a 2-2 for the weekend. Against Johns Hopkins and FDU, the epee squad continued their fine display. Penn's stronger half went 13-3 against Hopkins and 14-2 against FDU. The foil went a respectable 11-5 and 13-3 in those matches. Cho, described as a "Yale-killer", went 13-2 for the epee over the two days and was a highlight of an otherwise mediocre weekend. Katz picked up three wins in all four matches, going 12-4 overall. "Everyone tried, and everyone gave 110 percent," Leon said. "Hopefully we can continue to do this, and win."

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