Fencers Oppose MIT Tonight

Harvard fencers resume their frenetic February schedule tonight, hopping the cross-town bus to MIT, where the Crimson will face a so-so Engineer squad.

Harvard is hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of a surprise 14-13 loss to Princeton last weekend that put a damper on the team's first-of-the-season Ivy match. Crimson coach Edo Marion hopes that the relatively easy match tonight will enable the Crimson to recapture the form that the team showed at the beginning of the season.

MIT is the second-best team in New England, but the notoriously poor quality of fencing in the northeast makes this a dubious distinction. Playing second fiddle to Harvard in fencing, is as unfruitful as winning money betting on the Philadelphia 76ers, and in tonight's contest it doesn't seem likely that the trend will change.

Harvard has already done away with the Engineers once this year, and although there isn't really much chance of success for MIT, the Engineers will be "up" for the Crimson. The memory of an embarrassing 22-5 shellacking by Harvard in December, will do little to curb the MIT lust for more punishment.

Of particular concern to Marion must be the performance of his point weapon teams. Since the Christmas break, they have not performed well, except for the showing of Chris Jennings who is only now rounding into the form that made him a national under-nineteen champion in both foil and epee.

Against Princeton, the point weapons clearly cost Harvard an important Ivy win, losing five out of six bouts in the last round as the Tigers sent Harvard home empty-handed from the Ivy contest. Marion will be watching the Crimson foil and epee squads carefully tonight, scrutinizing the areas that he originally had felt would be strong for Harvard that are performing so poorly.