Two championship titles found their way to Penn State yesterday as the women's foil team defeated Notre Dame, 8-4, and as Vitali Nazlimov finished first in individual sabre competition.

"From yesterday to today it feels like day and night," assistant coach Wes Glon said.

A slow start in men's individual foil competition Wednesday left an air of disapointment with the team.

Yesterday changed that.

"I feel very happy for our women's program," Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said.

This is the first time the women's foil team has won an NCAA championship under Kaidanov. However, the team has qualified every year for the championship since he took over coaching the women. The team has gone from 10th to first in the last six years.

"(The improvement) makes me feel great," Kaidanov said.

The No. 1-seeded, 15-0 women's team fought a total of 42 bouts before walking away with the title.

However, the first two bouts of the finals resulted in losses for the Lady Lions, putting them behind Notre Dame by two points. Notre Dame had its top two fencers start the final competition.

"When you're losing, that's when all the concentration comes up," Olga Chernyak said. "That's when you realize that you've got to give all that you can."

"There was no panic," Glon said. "We knew . . . we would turn things around. It was just a matter of time."

The Lady Lions came back winning five bouts in a row.

"We felt our domination," Katie Kowalski said.

"We have faith in each other," Chernyak said. "We're just a very good team."

"Everyone picks each other up," Suzie Paxton added.

Paxton explained that as the final competition went on, the fencers built off each other, which led to their success.

"I thought it was going to be a lot closer than it was," Kowalski said.

The final bout was between Chernyak and Lynn Kadri of Notre Dame.

After fans in the stands chanted Olga-Olga-Olga, Chernyak defeated Kadri, 5-0.

"It gives you such a good feeling that we didn't lose once this year," Kowalski said.

Part of yesterday's success for the team can be attributed to the large crowd that filled the stands.

"I think this really fired up our team," Glon said. "This intimidated the other team."

The crowd also cheered on Penn State's individual sabre fencers.

In addition to Nazlimov's No. 1 finish, David Cox placed third and Thomas Strzalkowski was sixth.

Nazlimov, who was ill, and Cox met each other in the semifinals, which Penn State fencer won wasn't important, Nazlimov said.

"The problem was who was going to beat Nowosielski," Nazlimov said. "(Nazlimov's victory) added some responsibility."

Lesek Nowosielski of Notre Dame ended up second in the competition after Nazlimov won, 5-7, 5-2, 5-2, in the finals.

NCAA competition continues today through Sunday. The men's individual epee competition and men's foil team competition will be held today. Tomorrow will be the women's individual foil competition and men's sabre competition. Sunday will be the men's epee team competition along with the announcement of the NCAA Championship team.