Fencers finish season undefeated

The Penn State fencing team began the 1997 season with two goals in mind: have an undefeated season and win a third straight national title.

The Nittany and Lady Lions have accomplished the first part of their mission after defeating all their opponents Saturday in Philadelphia in their last dual meets of the season.

"The result is excellent," Penn State coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "But overall it wasn't our best performance."

The Lady Lions breezed past Temple and Penn, winning, 21-11, and, 26-6, respectively. The women then ran into their toughest test of the season, Columbia, but they edged the Columbia squad, 19-15, to end the season 16-0.

"They have a strong team. They have a lot of depth," said Lady Lion Sibyl Goldstein, whose foil team lost their only match of the year. "In order for us to beat them there were some significant bouts we had to win. There were some bouts we needed to win, and we didn't win. We weren't prepared mentally. It wasn't a sure win."

The Nittany Lions faced two tough teams Saturday, Columbia and Penn. These two teams both have great individual fencers, with No. 1 Cliff Bayer leading Penn and No. 5 Dan Kellner topping the Columbia lineup.

But neither team could stop the Penn State men from wrapping up their third straight undefeated season. The Nittany Lions defeated Columbia, 15-12, and Penn, 16-11, to finish the dual-meet season 14-0.

Despite Bayer's winning all three of his bouts, the Penn State foil team beat both the Penn and Columbia teams. Gang Lu also managed to defeat Kellner, 5-4. Lu is No. 6 in the country and, although this bout doesn't count toward the rankings, said it was a good win.

"I am happy to beat him," Lu said. "I knew I could beat him. The last time I lost to him was January 1996."

The Nittany Lions are now 44-0 over the past three seasons, and the Lady Lions are 33-0 over the past two. The men have won a staggering 115 out of their last 118 dual meets. Equally impressive, the Lady Lions have won 120 out of 124 dual meets.

Penn State now has its second part of its mission remaining. It will look to win its third straight national title March 20-23, but first it must qualify in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in two weeks.

Even though Penn State defeated every team it faced this season, Kaidanov does not consider the title to be in the bag. He is concerned with the team's leadership.

"Our leaders lacked intensity," he said. "They know the biggest battles are yet to come, and they need more intensity in the last three weeks of practice."