The No. 3 Penn State fencing teams improved their perfect records to 8-0 this past weekend as they swept th eir first home dual meet of the season.

The fencers hosted Duke, North Carolina, University of Pennsylvania, Hunter College and Ohio State in the White building on Saturday.

The highlight of the day was the matchup with Big Ten rival and nationally ranked Ohio State. The men struggled in the epee and sabre, losing both to the strong Ohio State squads. But the Lions made up the difference by dominating the foil as Jake Clark, Nonpatat Panchan, Ian Schlaepfer and Joe Brown combined for a perfect 9-0 record while leading the Lions to a 16-11 victory.

"Our foil team fenced really well," weapon captain Panchan said. "We didn't even realize we needed to do well because that the other guys weren't."

The women had a tough time against Ohio State, as the fencers struggled in the foil. Sophomore All-American Marta Grochal, seeing her first action of the season since returning from injury, went 1-2 against Ohio State, but 7-2 for the day. Captain Stephanie Eim led the women, going 3-0 in the epee, and 8-1 on the weekend. Jessica Burke, Stephanie Tam and Meredith Steyer also performed well for the Lady Lions as Penn State squeaked out a 14-13 victory.

Head Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was satisfied with Grochal's performance.

"Marta is coming back, but she didn't reach her best," Kaidanov said. "We still have time for her to reach her best."

The fencing team followed strong victories over Ohio State by celebrating senior day for the first time in the program's history. The Nittany Lion mascot was in attendance, dazzling the crowd by pumping out 60 one-armed push-ups. Each senior was then singled out and honored for their participation in the fencing program.

Senior captain Stephanie Eim brought up the idea of a senior day to her teammates, and turned over the responsibilities to the underclassmen. She was especially emotional during the ceremonies.

"Even though I knew what was happening, I was really impressed." Eim said. "It was wonderful."

In other action, the Nittany and Lady Lions easily beat Duke and North Carolina. The men posted 19-8 and 21-6 victories respectively, as the women went 23-4 and 22-5. The fencers had an especially easy time against a very young Hunter College fencing program, as both the men and women finished their perfect days with victories.

Kaidanov was a little disappointed with his team's performance against Ohio State.

"We did not perform our best," Kaidanov said. "We were on the level of survival, no more than that."