Go ahead, pick a sword-fight with Penn's fencing team. They dare you.
All jokes aside, this season should be another strong one for the men's and women's teams. Coach Dave Micahnik has never had a losing season in his 33 years coaching both teams, and his 34th season shouldn't be any different.
Men's sabre: The team returns sophomore Andrew Bielen and junior Matthew Kolasa. The former was an honorable mention All-American and the latter was first-team All-Ivy last year. The Quakers are also anticipating the return of Jon Berkowsky from injury. The four-time national champion and two-time Junior Olympic champion has yet to remain healthy enough to translate his high school success to college.
Men's foil: Three returning starters are back for the foil squad; chief among them is senior captain Ron Berkowsky.
Jon's big brother Ron is a three-time All-American and 2007 NCAA Silver Medalist after losing in last year's finals by one point. He has compiled a 128-13 record over three seasons and should vie for another NCAA title this year.
Men's epee: Penn returns juniors Samuel Monk and Ben Wieder to a squad that will look to younger fencers to step up and fill in some blanks.
"Those two are frontline fencers," Micahnik said, "But we still have three spots up for grabs."
Monk won 49 matches last season and Wieder earned second-team All-Ivy.
"We've got some very strong freshmen," Monk said. "Every upperclassmen is very excited about this season."
Women's epee: The bronze medalists at the IFA's return two members, but will count heavily on newcomers to balance out their attack.
Junior Kristen Hughes and sophomore Kathryn Anthony will lead the charge . if they can stay healthy. Both are returning from injuries last season (Hughes/ribs, Anthony/hip), so freshman Stephanie Wheeler may figure prominently to the team's success.
"They've got good distribution of strength, but we have to see who steps up to set the tone," Micahnik said.
Women's sabre: The sabre returns two-thirds of its IFA silver-medal winning team.
Sophomore Alexis Baran and junior Cassandra Partyka lead the way after both qualified for the NCAA Championships last season. Baran went 10-7 in the Ivies, good enough to earn her second-team All-Ivy League. Partyka earned first-team All-Ivy after going 49-11, 13-5 in the Ivies.
Women's foil: It would come as no surprise if most of the wins for the women's side of the fencing team come from the foil squad this season.
Juniors Ilana Sinkin and Abby Emerson, two of the three fencers that earned gold-medals at the IFA's last season, return for the Quakers. Both fencers earned All-Ivy first team last year after combining to go 100-29, both went to the NCAA's and Emerson finished the season as an honorable mention All-American.
