White fencing

Fencers host first, last home meet in White Building

While most Penn State sports teams regularly get the opportunity to compete on fields and inside arenas within the confines of Happy Valley, a home meet for the Nittany Lion fencing team is a rarity.

But this weekend, the fencing team will get its opportunity to prove what it can do in front of a home crowd.

The Lions (3-0, men's and women's) will host a team meet for the first time this season at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow in the White Building fencing room. The Lions will be fencing against teams from Duke, Haverford, Air Force and Stanford. Teams from New York University and Penn will also take part in the meet.

"Stanford is, by far, our hardest opponent," said men's team captain Tom Peng. "It will be a good test to see how we stand up against them. They're probably the favorite."

Stanford is a team especially strong in men's and women's foil. Alex Wood, the No. 1 foilsman in the nation's under-20 rankings, and Tim Chang, No. 4, will test their skills against the talented Penn State men's foil trio of 1997 All-Americans Gang Lu, David Lidow, and Donald McGill.

The Penn State women's foil team will have its hands full with a pair of Olympians -- Stanford's Felicia Zimmerman and Monique DeBruin. Zimmerman, who defeated Penn State All-American Carla Esteva 5-4 in last year's NCAA Championships, is ranked second in the nation's senior women's foil rankings. DeBruin is ranked fourth.

Although the players have their minds on Stanford, coach Emmanuil Kaidanov expects some tough competition from other teams his Lions will be fencing this weekend.

Kaidanov said Haverford is traditionally strong in men's epee and sabre, and Duke has a number of strong performers. However, the coach expects the meet with Stanford to be one of the toughest his team will encounter all season.

"We have to get warmed up really fast (in the first meet)," Kaidanov warned, "because our second meet is against Stanford."

The Lions will also be hoping to avoid mistakes that sometimes come with a long layoff. The fencing team hasn't had a meet since Dec. 12, and the fencers hope the delay won't hurt the team's overall performance.

"This is a good chance to see what we need to train on," Peng said. "We were training hard (before the break). Some of us practiced during the break. I hope it won't affect us too much, but it might."

A challenge from Stanford isn't the only thing the Penn State fencers are looking for on Saturday. Friends and family are sure to invade the White Building to see the fencing team's first -- and last -- home team meet of the season. The fencers are also hoping other fans will arrive to watch and learn more about their sport.

"I think people have ideas, but don't know what fencing is all about," said women's team captain Claire Jackson. "Kids love to see fencing. It boosts the sport. (Fencing) is such a great sport to watch. It's so quick and exciting."