The women's fencing team will send five members and a 13-2 season record to the National Championships April 24 at Northwestern University in Evansville, Ill.

The women leave today, and will join the men fencers for the last two days of their competition before beginning their own preliminary action Sunday.

The team includes freshmen Katie Kowalski and Lisa Posthumus, sophomore Janet Rossman, junior Kris Merski and senior captain Amy Barrett. Kowalski and Rossman were also selected to fence in an individual tournament featuring the top 24 women fencers on Tuesday.

It will be Kowalski and Posthumus' first collegiate championships with a team Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov characterizes as "young and growing."

"I think it will be a fun tournament," Kaidanov predicted. "They may be a little intimidated at first, but Katie's not afraid of anything. She's tremendous psychologically and I never know what she might do. She can surprise people."

"I'm scared," Katie said. "I hate to admit it, but I'm really scared. It's all I think about. (Wednesday) night I couldn't fall asleep. I even dreamed about the NCAAs."

"We don't know what to expect since it's our first time," Posthumus agreed.

The top 12 women's teams battle Sunday, with eight advancing to the direct elimination rounds on Monday, when the team championship will be decided. Kaidanov believes his team can reach the second day, but thinks after that, a lot will depend on the opponents Penn State draws.

"Potentially we could finish as high as the top four," Kaidanov said, "but I would consider it a big success to be in the top six."

"We're not losing to Temple," Kowalski said, defining one of the team's goals. A season rival, Temple slipped by the Lady Lions this year in a match that finished 8-8. Temple won because of a greater number of bout touches.

In preparation for the NCAAs, the team has been practicing in a lot of competitive situations. Kaidanov hopes to get the team as close to the tournament atmosphere as possible.

"We've been bouting a lot," Posthumus noted. "We've been fencing for touches and scoring. Everything competitive."