Fencers hold court at regionals, set NCAA lineup

The Penn State fencing team has its lineup set for next weekend's NCAA tournament. The Nittany and Lady Lions qualified the maximum number of 10 fencers.

The team competed in the Mid-Atlantic/South regional March 8-9 at Haverford and finalized which fencers would travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the national tournament.

After the regional tournament a committee evaluated the fencers' performance during the season and at the regional. Then it decided who would advance to NCAAs. No team is allowed more than two fencers in each weapon at nationals.

Penn State qualified two fencers in every weapon. Gang Lu, Serge Lilov and Dean Jacobberger led the way for the Nittany Lions after all three placed second at Haverford.

Lu has been a consistent performer all season for Penn State. The freshman finished 40-3 this season in dual-meet competition and lost just one bout at the regional tournament. The loss was to the No. 1 foilsman in the nation, Cliff Bayer of Pennsylvania.

Jacobberger was the team's biggest surprise. Although he's been a key member of the men's epee team for the past two seasons, he was not expected to take second place in regionals.

"I was struggling early on in the day," he said. "Then everything seemed to click for me at the right time."

Jacobberger has qualified for nationals before but hasn't been able to go due to the limits on the amount of fencers each team is allowed.

"He's the workhorse on the team," teammate Jeff Feinblatt said. "It finally worked out for him."

While Lu and Jacobberger will be fencing in their first NCAA tournament, it will be the third year in a row Lilov has competed in the tournament. He took second last year and third the year before.

Feinblatt, Brian Walther and David Lidow round out the men's team. Walther, who took fifth last weekend, will make his first NCAA tournament appearance. Lidow placed third at the regional tournament, losing only twice. Feinblatt, a second-team All-American in epee last year, earned a return trip to NCAAs by taking fourth at Haverford.

The women's team has an equally strong squad traveling to the Air Force Academy for nationals. It is spearheaded by two-time All-American Sibyl Goldstein. She took third place in foil at regionals and will fence in her fourth NCAA tournament.

Joining Goldstein in foil is Carla Esteva. She will conclude an impressive freshman campaign with a trip to the national tournament. Esteva had a 55-3 record this year and finished fourth at Haverford. She said she wasn't satisfied with her performance at regionals but feels she is prepared for the NCAAs.

"I'm very exited," Esteva said. "There are going to be some very good fencers there who I haven't fenced before. I'm looking forward to it."

Fellow freshman Alexandra Korfanty also is going to Colorado Springs. The defending Junior Olympic champion in epee took fourth at regionals. Sophomore Wendy Hall also qualified for NCAAs in epee. Hall finished sixth last weekend and will try to duplicate her All-American status of last year.

The only other team to qualify the maximum number of fencers was 1994 national champion Notre Dame. Columbia, St. John's, Stanford and Yale all qualified eight.