Cleaning wasn't one of the prerequistes to qualify for the fencing team, but the team has all the right disinfectants in its corner.

The men's epeé squad headed into Saturday's dual meets with its back against a very dirty wall in not being able to lose a regional match. But the squad took the situation as it came, finishing squeaky clean for the regional competition.

The epeé squad finished the day with a 5-1 record. The lone setback came at the hands of a nationally-ranked St. John's squad.

"We started off a little bit slow," epe captain Ben Millett said of the 5-4 loss. "We really weren't on top of them from the beginning."

Because St. John's is not in Penn State's region, the men's epe team is still alive in the hunt for an NCAA-tournament berth. But those faint heartbeats were in danger when the squad fenced Princeton in a regional showdown.

The epeé squad seemed unconscious at times, ripping through Princeton like Pine Sol through dirt and grime, winning 7-2.

"We did to Princeton what St. John's did to us," epe fencer Kimo Quaintance said. "St. John's we got behind early. St. John's came in ready and on fire and attacking everywhere."

But this time Penn State was the team attacking everywhere, and it paid big dividends.

"Princeton was a must win for us," Millett said, pointing out fellow epeé fencer Greg Gregor's performance. "I think Greg did good. I'm really pleased with my fencing and Kimo's and Greg's."

Overshadowed by the epeé squad's performance was that of the rest of the team.

The men's and women's teams were supposed to get down-and-dirty with some stiff competition, but the only thing resembling any difficulty for the team was its job of cleaning the gym afterwards, because the whitewash beforehand was no problem.

Successfully sweeping the six teams in their respective fields, the men's and women's teams each cleaned house en route to 6-0 records for the day.

"We did very well," sabre captain Tom Strzalkowski said, recognizing Don Guzzetta and the substitutes on the sabre squad. "Don fenced very well today."

Like a cool poker player, Guzzetta never really changed his facial expressions much -- except for a smile here or there. He just went on the strip and got the job done.

"I'm fencing much better," Guzzetta said unphased. "I'm winning big bouts whereas last year I didn't."

On the women's side, it was the usual story with both Olga Kalinovskaya and Olga Chernyak leading the way with Jen Prifrel close behind, but first-year fencers Sibyl Goldstein and Colleen Bruen also showed why they were highly recruited.

"I think everybody did pretty well, but I think we still have some areas to work on," women's captain Chernyak said.

Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was pleased with the outcome and expressed his pleasure in the undefeated records of Andy Gearhart in men's foil and Kalinovskaya in women's foil.

Kaidanov also commended the performances of Millett and Chernyak, each finishing with just one blemish on their respective records.