W. Fencing anxious to gauge progress

After months of hard work and preparation, the Penn women's fencing team will finally begin its regular season Saturday at the Penn Multi-Meet. The home event, which will get underway at 11 a.m., will give the Quakers a chance to square off against Haverford, Rutgers and Duke. While Haverford is a bit on the inexperienced side, the Quakers will have their work cut out for them against top-notch squads like the Blue Devils and Scarlet Knights. Undaunted, the Quakers have their sights set high. "None of these teams are pushovers, but if we take each team seriously, there's no reason why we shouldn't have three victories on Saturday," senior captain Heba Abdulla said. Senior foilist Amy Hozer echoed her captain's confidence. "It will be a tough meet, but I think we have a good chance at doing very well," Abdulla said. The Quakers are coming off a productive winter camp in which they got a chance to give full attention to honing their skills. With lessons every day, Penn made marked improvements and is now well-prepared for regular season competition. "Winter camp was designed to consolidate everything we worked on in the first semester," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "The key now is to continue to make progress week by week during the season." "It was intense and was a very good preparation for the season," Abdulla added. Despite the success of practices over break, Micahnik is somewhat unsure about what to expect throughout the course of the season. "The training and effort has been good, but we'll find out how we stand when we face our opponents," Micahnik said. "It's hard to know how good teams are until we see them." There is also some apprehension due to the fact that this is the first year that the NCAA has allowed women to fence sabre, and the Quakers do not yet know how they will respond to the change. "The sabre is starting to get better, but it's all a question of how the other teams have developed sabre as well," Micahnik said. Freshman Christina Verigan, who along with Abdulla and sophomore Abby Lifter switched to sabre to help the team, feels that she is ready both to compete with her new weapon and to begin her collegiate career. "I'm looking forward to the meet and I think it will be a good indicator for the rest of the season," Verigan said. "At this point, I feel that I'm as prepared as I'm going to get." It should also be interesting to see how well the Quakers' freshman class responds to its first collegiate meet. Five of the Red and Blue's 11 fencers are freshmen, but Micahnik is confident that his young guns are up to the challenge. "The freshmen are looking good and their upward flow has been very promising," Micahnik said. "They are mainstays of the team, and they will do very nice." But the true test will come on Saturday when Haverford, Rutgers and Duke step into Hutchinson Gymnasium to face the Quakers. "It is very important to get off to as good a start as possible and get some wins," Micahnik said. "It's good for both confidence and our record." Questions will begin to get answered Saturday as Penn kicks off a season chock-full of both promise and apprehension.