W. Fencing Shines, M. Fencing Falters

The men's and women's fencing teams opened their seasons to mixed reviews Wednesday night at Brandeis.

Getting the thumbs up rating was the women's squad who bested Brandeis Wednesday night.

The swordswomen opened the season in strong fashion, running on all cylinders in the win.

The opening victory could mark the beginning of a big year for the women's fencing team, which harbors dreams of taking the Ivy title.

The women fencers are coming off a stellar season, which saw them finish second in the Ivy League and bring home an impressive fifth-place showing at the national championship.

The team also returns its top two performers from last season in defending Ivy individual champion Viktoria Danics and Sara Grasson, the latter of whom finished tied for third in the Ivy League.

Danics and Grasson, who are both sophomores, placed 14th and 16th, respectively, at the national championships.

This weekend the squad faces an important Ivy test when it travels to Princeton for a quad meet against rivals Columbia, Cornell and Princeton.

A victory tomorrow in the quad could set the Crimson up for a showdown with Penn for the Ivy title later this season. Last year the Quakers ruined Harvard's Ivy aspirations with a tight victory that came down to touches, the fencing tie-breaker.

The men, on the other hand, received a definite thumbs down on their opening match.

Coming off a disappointing 3-8 season last year, they had higher expectations for this winter.

Those expectations have been put on hold for the time being, though, as the Crimson suffered a crushing 22-5 defeat to Brandeis. There were few, if any, Crimson highlights in the match.

"I am very disappointed in the team's performance," senior captain Peter Tang said. "Hopefully the results will serve as a wake-up call to the men's team."

After the loss, the squad called a team meeting in which they discussed new strategies and goals.

The swordsmen also talked about ways to refocus their practices to meet those goals.

"We're hoping for improvement, but we will have to wait and see," Tang said.

The fencers will get an immediate chance for redemption as the men's team also travels to Princeton tomorrow for a quad meet with the same three Ivy foes.