Following last weekend's United States Fencing Association two-day bonanza, the men's and women's fencing teams gear up again for a full day of fencing at tomorrow's eight-team dual meet in White Building.

Cornell, Duke, Stanford and University of North Carolina will be among the teams challenging Penn State.

"Duke is probably the strongest team," Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "They have a strong epee team -- they were the only squad we lost to last year and that was with our second team, since we had already won the tournament."

Farleigh Dickinson will probably be the strongest opponent the Lady Lions have to contend with, Kaidanov said. They have a strong fencer from West Germany who may present a problem for the women, especially since they have not fenced her before.

Kaidanov also said he has heard Stanford has a fairly strong team, but the Lions have never fenced the Cardinal before.

The fencers feel confident about the meet, though.

"They're not like major powerhouses," Ali Rezezadah said.

The team may be slightly hindered by recent illnesses, but those who were sick feel strong. Ed Mufel and Katie Kowalski have both recuperated from mild cases of the flu and Lisa Posthumus is recovering from an injury to her right arm.

"She (Posthumus) won't be able to fence full power, but she will be OK," Kaidanov said.

Posthumus didn't participate in practice yesterday to give her arm a rest before tomorrow's meet. She will be going into the meet undefeated in this year's team events. Jim Marsh is also undefeated in team events (14-0). Every meet is different, though, Kaidanov said.

"We have a sharp weapon, (and) they have a sharp weapon," he said. "You can never say for sure (if you can successfully fence an opponent)."

Kaidanov has prepared his fencers for anything they may encounter. This includes more than just training though. He planned the schedule so the early meets (such as tomorrow's) would be against easier opponents and the final meets would be against the tougher ones.

"We are stressing volume of work at the beginning and gradually increasing the intensity of competition," he said. "This way we bring them to their best shape."

The "principle of planning" Kaidanov uses seems to be a good way to develop his fencers, but what he finds important is using the plan.

"It may be a good idea, but what is important is how we implement those ideas."

The next two meets will be more difficult as the level of competition will intensify. The Lions will fence Yale, Columbia and Duke in the first two weeks of February.