Swordsmen Foil Stevens Tech, 18-9

Harvard's men's fencing team outdueled a less experienced Stevens Tech team, 18-9 in a remarkably balanced meet Saturday at MIT.

Although the swordsmen entered the meet without their second and third-ranked foilsmen--Michael and David Merner were competing in the National Junior Olympics in Cleveland--they were confident of a win against second-division Stevens.

But for a while, the meet looked closer than it was. Displaying superior from and bladework, the sabremen took their first round 3-0, but when the epee and foil squads took the floor they dropped two bouts each to Stevens.

"The sabres' really strong performance lulled the other two squads to sleep," Steve Biddle, senior epeeman and team captain, said: "by the middle of the second round the score stood at 10-8.

But the shock of the losses brought the team back to life. The epee and foil squads recovered two of the three substitutes won their bouts, and in the remaining half of the meet the team lost only a single bout (sophomore sabreman Brad Jeffries, who was carried out with leg cramps).

Both Biddle and Coach Ben Zibkovic gave special credit to the sabre squad for an extremely strong showing. Last year the team graduated practically all its sabremen so this year's squad had to build from scratch.

Biddle and Dave Heyman, a sophomore sabreman, turned in the best individual efforts, both going 3-0 for the meet. Sophomore foilsman Cameron Broight went 2-1 in his varsity debut.

"Cameron in particular came through and did a really outstanding job," Biddle said. "He kept his concentration, intensity and poise. He pulled in the only foil win in the first round."

The swordsmen now stand at 9-1 for the season, their best record in at least four years. Their smashing 20-7 victory over Cornell last Wednesday puts them at 2-1 in the Ivies (they lost to Princeton) and tied for second place.

Next weekend the swordsmen will journey to UPenn and Columbia for what will very likely be their toughest meets of the season.

The Notebook--David Merner finished ninth in the foil event at the National Junior Olympics.