The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams will travel to MIT, a nine-hour bus trip this weekend, for a non-conference competition set to begin at 9 a.m on Sunday.

The meet will be held on Sunday because the Jewish College, Brandeis, does not compete on Saturdays. Along with Brandeis, Penn State will also fence Boston College, Scared Heart and Tufts.

The competition is comprised of younger, less experienced teams, which should not pose a challenge to Penn State's well-established fencing program.

While the meet may not be competitive, Penn State fencers will focus on increasing the number of bouts they fence, in order to qualify for regionals.

The team only has two meets left to get the wins and bouts needed to advance.

Senior foil fencer, Tami Najm said the meet will provide the team with more opportunities to practice and prepare for the regional and NCAA competitions, which are right around the corner.

Penn State will send the starters from each squad -- foil, saber, and epee -- as well as one or two substitutes who have strong chances of qualifying for regionals.

Substitutes will also help ease pressure on the starters and prevent them from getting fatigued or injured.

To qualify, fencers must have at least 20 bouts and a 40 percent winning record. Penn State can send up to four fencers from each squad to regionals and two to the NCAA championship.

Najm, who is attending the meet as a starter in the foil squad, said the team's meets are spaced out well and the fencers get breaks after fencing tough schools.

"Our coach has coached for a long time, and he knows strategically the amount of bouts we should fence, the quality of the teams and where they are placed," Najm said.

She also pointed out that the fencers must continue working hard because some are on the borderline, and need more points or bouts to qualify.

"We'll go into it strong," Najm said. "We'll definitely dominate all of our bouts. I don't see our starters having any problems."

In two weeks, Penn State will head to their final competition before regionals at Northwestern University.