Despite struggling throughout most of the tournament, the men's epe team battled its way to a second-place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championships March 5-6. Meanwhile, the three other Penn State weapons -- men's sabre and foil and women's foil -- all showed well with impressive first-place finishes in their respective categories.

Speculation arose that the men's epe team might not make the NCAA Tournament when it lost to Rutgers, New York University and St. John's University earlier in the year. But the epe fencers stepped up and showed heart as they fenced their way to the NCAA berth.

"I was really happy we placed second," admitted epe fencer Kimo Quaintance. "We struggled through the whole thing. We really could have lost to any of the teams."

Although Quaintance said the epe squad's head wasn't screwed on right, the only team it fell victim to was Princeton. However at the time of the match, Princeton and Penn State already had qualified with the two best records. The NCAA only accepts the top two squads for each weapon category.

"It was not important, it was the last match," Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "It was clear when we fenced Princeton that we deserved to be in the top two."

As a result, the epe and other squads find themselves in fencing's equivalent of basketball's March Madness.

"We only lost two matches all day," said sabre captain Tom Strzalkowski of his squad. "Both the bouts we lost were 5-4. For sabre, it couldn't be any better."

Oh, but it could get better for the sabre squad and the rest of the hopeful Lion fencers, who plan on making the trip to Brandeis University for nationals. A team victory at the small Massachusetts university would look just dandy next to the 1990 and 1991 NCAA Championships.

The team must be prepared mentally and physically when it comes time for the NCAAs. As Olga Chernyak admitted, if the team enters the tournament with the right frame of mind, the overall team crown that has eluded Penn State the last two years may just be in reach.

"If we go in with the right attitude and fence our best, we could do it," Chernyak said.

Besides the overall team title, Penn State also qualified the maximum number of fencers, 12 (three in each weapon), for the NCAA individual titles.