The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams have been known to be a dominant force in the college fencing world, and their performance this weekend was no short of that. The Nittany Lions won nine out of 10 matches at this weekend's Traditional tournament, hosted by Penn State at the White Building.

The field at this week's Traditional would be described as elite. The five schools who competed included New York University, Rutgers, North Carolina, Princeton and Harvard. The two Ivy League schools are recent additions to this tournament.

This was the Lions' first team event. Their first two events, the Penn State Garret Open and Temple Open, were individual tournaments and had no implications on their region or placement in the NCAA tournament.

On the men's side, the team defeated NYU, Rutgers, Princeton, and North Carolina. The men defeated all four of those teams soundly. Their only loss came at the hands of Harvard, who beat them by one point, 14-13.

Penn State fencing coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was not that surprised over the loss to Harvard, though, saying the team is strong and fenced well.

Some of the more impressive finishes for the men included senior captain Marten Zagunis, who finished the day 13-2, and sophomore Alexander Vongries who had a record of 4-0 in the men's saber.

Sophomore Arthur Urman led the men's epee with a record of 8-5, while junior Nevin King finished 2-0.

For the men's foil, senior Christopher Miller finished an impressive 10-2 that led the group.

The women's team beat all five of its opponents, but the Harvard women's team gave it fits as well, with Penn State pulling out a 15-12 win. Kaidanov said that the Harvard women's team was just as strong as the men's team.

In the women's saber, junior captain Sophia Hiss and freshman Caitlin Thompson both finished 10-1, with the rest of that group having a good day as well.

Junior Case Szarwark, who finished the day with a record of 14-2, dominated the women's epee at the Traditional.

Senior Annekathrin Donath led the women's foil group, and finished with a record of 12-2. Also, freshman Allison Glasser and junior Tamara Najm had a good day with a 10-2 record.

Even though it seems like the Lions dominated the Traditional, Kaidanov was not entirely pleased.

"Some of the performances were good, but we need a lot of work," Kaidanov said. "Whenever you lose a match, you don't like it.

"There were some strong performances from the women's saber team, but I have to analyze all the results before he could say whom he though fought well individually."

This is the last team match for the Lions before the winter break. Next week, the majority of the team will be going the Olympic Trials and North American Cup, to qualify for their country's national team for both world events. Kaidanov said that the Olympic Trials are a great experience and a chance to fight against tough competition.

The team does not hold practices over the winter break, but Kaidanov expects that his team practices on its own. The Lions next compete Jan. 28.