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.

The fate of two Quakers will remain undetermined until later this week as the results of Saturday’s NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Fencing Regional tournament count for only part of the qualifying criteria for NCAA championships.

The men tied for second place and the women clinched third on Sunday at the Ivy Fencing Championship in Hutchinson Gymnasium.

The No. 10 women’s fencing team will have to settle for an outside shot at the Ivy crown after winning three of its four matches last weekend.

The Quakers traveled to Cornell to compete in the first part of the two-week Ivy League Championships, where they went 3-1. They will look to show their strengths on their homecourt at Hutchinson Gym next week, when round two of the Ivy Championship will take place.

Prochniak competed in the sabre division, battling a field of 157 competitors. His fifth-place finish secured him a spot on the 2010 U.S. Junior Fencing National Team, which will participate in the 2010 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

While Penn won’t be sending any student athletes to Vancouver, freshman Evan Prochniak will be the sole representative for the Penn fencing program at this year’s Junior Olympics.