Fencing rolls in N.E.

A win over the Yale men paced a successful New England trip for Penn. There is truth in jest. The Penn fencing team now knows that. On Saturday morning's bus ride to New Haven, the members of the men's fencing team sarcastically joked about winning the Ivy League title this season and beating Yale -- a team that has overpowered the Quakers in recent years. Half of that goal has now been accomplished. The men followed up Saturday's win over the traditionally dominant Elis with a sweep of their five bouts at the MIT Multi-Meet on Sunday. The women fell just short of matching their male counterparts' perfect weekend; they lost to Yale before posting a 6-0 record at MIT. The men beat Yale soundly, winning the foil, epee and sabre each by a 6-3 score, combining for an 18-9 total. "Taking six foil bouts from them is the best we've done in a long time," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. All three Penn foilers -- David Liu, Yaron Roth, and Blake Miller -- defeated the Bulldogs' Ayo Griffin, who won the NCAA championship last year by topping Roth 15-13. Roth, in fact, did not lose a bout all weekend. "It's always sweet beating Yale, especially at Yale," Micahnik said. Micahnik added that the tight quarters of the so-called "Snake Pit" were like those of Penn's basketball Palestra. "We were really surprised at the Yale result," junior David Liu said. "We went in with the mentality not that we were going to lose, but wondering how much we were going to lose by." Liu, whose sister fences for the Bulldogs, was told by Micahnik two days before the Yale meet that he would be switched to the foil from the sabre for the weekend. "After we won the first round, we were amazed and were able to hold on," freshman Blake Miller said. Sunday's bouts began with a relatively easy win over MIT before the Quakers faced off with an NYU team expected to be the toughest opponent of the tournament. Penn won the sabre 5-4 and the foil 6-3 before heading into the deciding epee, where they needed three victories to secure the bout. After the squad lost four-out-of-the-first-five epees, sophomore Charles Hamann beat Abe Berman to bring the Quakers within one win of clinching the bout. After two more Penn losses evened the overall score at 13, it came down to Hamann's match with Josh Leslie. Leslie jumped out to a 4-3 advantage, but Hamann got the last two touches to win a narrow decision. "That was a real character builder," Micahnik said. "It was a good example of how you have to trust in yourself, but also in your teammates." Penn then continued its onslaught with wins over Brown (20-7), a strong Brandeis team (16-11) and Boston College (20-7). The women fared equally well on Sunday, but succumbed to Yale the day before by a 23-9 count. "We thought we could do a little better, but Yale is a much stronger team position by position," Micahnik said. "We need to change our attitudes towards [Yale] so we can beat them," senior Agnieszka Gromulska said. "Right now we think we can try hard, but we will lose." Gromulska and the Quakers rebounded impressively on Sunday, beating MIT, NYU, Tufts, Brown, Brandeis and B.C. Only the NYU match was decided by fewer than 10 points. Gromulska posted a 23-1 record Sunday after going 1-3 against Yale. Sophomore epee Kari Coley also was tremendous posting a 25-3 mark. "I was pleasantly surprised, beating NYU in the foil 13-3," Micahnik said. "I also expected Brandeis to be a very difficult match, but it turned out not to be at all." Micahnik also praised the breakout performances of freshmen Abby Lifter (foil) and Mindy Nguyen (epee). "Sunday was a long day. You give and take a little during the day, and it doesn't matter if you're tired, you have to pull it off," Coley said. "I think that's the sign of a good team."