Undefeated and the only team to knock off No. 1 Penn State, the Penn men’s fencing team will enter this weekend’s Ivy League tournament confident but cautious.

One week after Penn men’s fencing pulled a surprise upset over No. 1 Penn State, the team returned to action on Saturday at the Eric Sollee Invitational.

As opposed to the Penn State Invitational, where the Quakers squared off against three top-10 teams, none of the five teams they will be facing at the Eric Sollee Invitational — Brandeis, MIT, NYU, Boston College or Brown — are currently ranked.

Despite Penn’s long and distinguished sports history, few of its teams have claimed an NCAA championship trophy of its own.

After two months without a tournament, the men’s and women’s fencing teams bounced back into form as they competed in the Philadelphia Invitational held at Hutchinson Gym.

Freshman Luona Wang and Wendy Zhao attended Vestavia Hills High School in Alabama and have fenced together for ten years.

Historically, reaching the round of 16 at the Penn State Open, has been a strong predictor of qualification for the NCAA Championships.

Penn fencing has an advantage that no other varsity team at the school can boast — the men and women go head to head in practice.

Though Penn failed to capture the 2011 Ivy League title, there is still a chance for the fencers to win a different crown.

The men defeated Brown, Columbia and Princeton, but notched third place overall with a 3-2 record in the Ivy tournament. The women went 3-3, taking fourth.

Having competed against some of the most talented fencers in the world, the Quakers hope to find success in the upcoming MIT Eric Sollee Invitational on Sunday.

In its only appearance at Hutchinson Gymnasium this season, the men’s fencing squad had no trouble handling the six visitors at the Philadelphia Invitational on Saturday, going 6-0.

The Quakers will host the Philadelphia Invitational Saturday for their first official tournament of the season.

Both fencing teams met with relative success in State College, Pa., with three Penn men earning top-seven finishes and five members of the women’s team placing in the top 20 in their respective weapons.

Both the men’s and women’s fencing teams look to bond more as a team and hope it brings success on the mat.

Despite being riddled by numerous setbacks throughout the 2010 campaign, the Penn fencing team nearly reproduced last year’s seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships on the season’s final weekend.

Few college students' experiences include a trip to the NCAA Championships, which is exactly what Penn fencers Evan Prochniak and Aida Abdikulova will be able to do after this weekend.