The fencing team traveled to the Cleveland area on Saturday with good intentions to fence in its dual meets. But with their insurmountable appetite, the fencers had their minds on swallowing the competition.

The team had a variety of dishes to choose from on Saturday's menu. In the oven for Penn State were host Case Western Reserve, Tri-State, Cleveland State, Ohio State and the University of Detroit.

"It was good but you can't judge how good we were with the other teams we were up against," epe fencer Kimo Quaintance said of the weekend. "We did have some bagels -- 27-0 victories over other teams."

Serving as an appetizer was the University of Detroit. Penn State proved to be the better team, overpowering the undersized team en route to a 26-1 men's triumph and a 16-0 women's victory.

Predestined to be the main course, fellow Big Ten member Ohio State was up next for the Nittany Lions. The Lion fencers were licking their chops for the Buckeyes prior to the meet and downed the club from Columbus 21-6 on the men's side and 12-4 on the women's. But despite the loss, Ohio State showed it was the second-best team in the field.

"Ohio State had the strongest team," said women's captain Olga Chernyak, who sat out most of Saturday due to the low competitive level. "I was very pleased to see what (substitutes) could do."

The team finished off the day with a triple-decker dessert, courtesy of Case Western, Tri-State and Cleveland State. The men's teams combined for three 27-0 shutouts, while the women cleaned their plates with 12-4, 16-0 and 16-0 finals, respectfully.

"That's very, very impressive," men's captain Tom Strzalkowski said of the three shutouts. "For us, the competition, besides Ohio State, wasn't that good."

Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said he was pleased with the results, but was looking ahead to this coming weekend. His team will look to digest its most difficult test of the season when it duels with the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Notre Dame, and Temple's women's squad.

But Penn State must be even hungrier next week to compete with the top teams in the nation, or the competition will feed on Lion meat.