Although dealing double defeats to Atlantic Coast Conference foes Duke and North Carolina, plus Haverford and Drew, and the women topping Temple, the Lions were foiled in their hopes of defeating national power Penn State. The host Nittany Lions won the women's match, 14-13, and the men's match by 15-12.

"This was not a bad result," coach Aladar Kogler said. "Penn State is a very good team."

Columbia "warmed up" for the Nittany Lions with a match against Duke. The women's team had little difficulty with the Blue Devils, winning 23-4 as foil went a perfect 9-0 and sabre and epee were both 7-2. The men had a little more difficulty before winning 18-9. Led by Scott Sugimoto (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), who was 3-0, foil went 7-2, while epee was 6-3. Sabre was 5-4, as junior Jerone Hsu (Saratoga, Calif.), filling in for co-captain James Williams (Sacramento, Calif.), who was fencing in Germany, lost all three of his bouts. However, junior Alex Krul (Los Angeles, Calif.) in sabre and sophomore Gershom Gannon-O'Gara (Los Angeles, Calif.) in epee were both 3-0.

Williams' absence was felt more keenly against the Penn State men, ranked third in the recent U.S. fencing coaches rankings. Sabre was just 2-7, and foil was 4-5, in the 15-12 defeat. Epee was the lone men's weapon squad to win, going 6-3 as Gannon-O'Gara, Lorenzo Casertano (Towson, Md.) and Max Czapanskiy (Takoma Park, Md.) were each 2-1. The women's match with the Nittany Lions figured to be the highlight of the day. Penn State had been ranked second nationally, with Columbia one place back in third.

Sophomore All-American Emily Jacobson (CC-Atlanta, Ga.) got Columbia off to a good start in sabre with a 5-1 victory over Ashley Gin Fong Linker, but her two teammates, senior Emma Baratta (CC-Somerville, N.J.) and first-year Daria Schneider (CC-Brookline, Mass.), both lost.

Columbia won two of three in foil, but were shut out in epee, 3-0, leaving Penn State ahead at the end of the first round, 6-3.

Sabre tied the tally up after the second round at 3-3. Jacobson beat Caitlin Thompson, last year's top high school fencer, 5-1, and Baratta beat Linker, 5-2. Schneider was a 5-1 victim of Penn State star Sophia Hiss.

Epee rebounded from the 0-3 start to sweep Penn State, 3-0. Junior Rachel Rowe (CC-Gladstone, N.J.) beat Katarzyna Trzopek, 5-3; first-year Oriana Isaacson (CC-Los Angeles, Calif.) nipped Andrea Wine, 5-4; and sophomore All-American Morgan Midgley (CC-Tinton Falls, N.J.) topped Case Szarwark. 5-3. Foil won just one of three, though, a 5-2 bout by first-year Kelsey Finkel (CC-New York, N.Y.) over Allison Glasser. After two rounds, the match was tied, 9-9.

Columbia needed a breakthrough, and got it when sabre blanked the Nittany Lions, 3-0, allowing just seven touches. Baratta beat Thompson, 5-3, Jacobson topped Hiss, 5-2, and Schneider edged Linker, 5-2.

The other weapons were not nearly as successful, though. Columbia's six fencers managed just one victory, Isaacson's 5-2 win over Szarwark in epee. Two bouts came down to the final touch, with Trzopek beating Midgley in foil, 5-4, and Annekathrin Donath topping Reckling by the same score in epee. In the final bout, with the match tied at 13-all, Tamara Najm beat Kelsey Finkel, 5-3, for the 14-13 final. Jacobson was the only Columbia Lion to go 3-0.

The other matches lacked the drama of Columbia-Penn State.

The women beat North Carolina, 22-5, as foil went 9-0; topped Haverford, 24-3, behind a 9-0 sabre squad; and beat Drew, 23-4, with foil turning in another perfect 9-0 mark. Columbia ended the day by breaking open a close match to rout sixth-ranked Temple, 20-7, as the trio of Jacobson, Baratta, and Schneider were 9-0 in sabre; Reckling was 3-0 for a 6-3 foil team; and Rowe went 3-0 for a 5-4 epee squad.

The Columbia men had an easy win over Haverford, 25-2. However, they struggled against North Carolina and Drew, beating the former, 14-13, and the latter by 17-10.

Foil was 6-3 vs. the Tar Heels, led by a 3-0 from junior Calvin Chen (Mercer Island, Wash.). Max Czapanskiy was 3-0 in epee. In the Drew match, Chen, Czapanskiy, and Alex Krul in sabre were all 3-0.

Chen went 10-1 and Scott Sugimoto was 9-2 for the day, as the men's foil squad won 33 of 45 bouts. Epee was 30-15, paced by Czapanskiy, 12-3, and Gannon-O'Gara and Casertano each won nine. Hurt by Williams' absence, sabre was just 23-22, as Krul was 12-3 and sophomore Alex Diacou (New York, N.Y.) was 10-5.

Two squads, sabre and foil, led the women's effort. Sabre was a sparkling 45-9, led by Jacobson, 12-1, Baratta, 12-2, and Schneider, 12-3. At 44-10, foil had one fewer win; sophomore Magda Losonczy (CC-Bernardsville, N.J.) and Kathleen Reckling (CC-White Plains, N.Y.) each won 15 of 18, and first-year Samantha "Sam" Giordano (BC-West Orange, N.J.) went 8-3 filling in for the injured Kelsey Finkel.

Rachel Rowe and Morgan Midgley each were 13-5 for the 36-18 women's epee unit, with Isaacson next at 9-7.

Next Sunday, Columbia and the other Ivy League schools will inaugurate the first Ivy League Championship with a full slate of round-robin team matches at Cornell, starting at 10 a.m. The Ivy League Championship concludes the following Sunday, February 9, at Columbia, beginning at 11 a.m.

Columbia results:

Women (5-1) Columbia 23, Duke 4 Penn State 14, Columbia 13 Columbia 22, North Carolina 5 Columbia 24, Haverford 3 Columbia 23, Drew 4 Columbia 20, Temple 7

Men (4-1) Columbia 18, Duke 9 Penn State 15, Columbia 12 Columbia 14, North Carolina 13 Columbia 25, Haverford 2 Columbia 17, Drew 10 Note: Temple does not have a men's team