It may not have been the most exhilarating experience of the year, but for those Harvard fans who savor each and every triumph over cross-town rival MIT, last night's fencing match at the IAB was sweet indeed.

The Crimson, jumping out to a commanding first-round lead, which it never relinquished, overwhelmed the Engineers, 18-9. Terry Valenzuela and Don Valentine swept three bouts each to allow Harvard to raise its record to 7-3.

In the first round the strong Crimson sabre and epee teams won five of six bouts, enabling the squad to build an early 6-3 lead. Riding the crest of early success, Harvard swept on in the second round to amass seven more victories to stretch the lead to 13-5. The third round supplied the handful of Harvard fans who wandered into the third-floor fencing room with more of the same, as the Crimson coasted to the win.

There were many "heroes" for Harvard: in fact, seven Crimson performers picked up two or more wins. Captain Geza Tatrallyay and sophomore Eugene White combined in epee to take four bouts without a loss.

Sabre men Gordon Ruttledge and Ken Hetzler each won two of three events to support Valenzuela's flawless performance. In foil Dave Fichter also picked up two wins in three bouts. Fichter's triumphs were impressively decisive because he won both 5-0, not allowing the opposition to score a touch.

Easily the most exciting bout of the evening was Tatrallyay's second-round 5-4 win over Marty Fraeman. After spotting MIT to a 2-0 lead. Tatrallyay stormed back to tie the bout at 2-2. From there the combatants exchanged touches to build the score to 3-3.

Then, in somewhat of a fencing rarity, two simultaneous touches tied the score at 5-5, and sent the bout into "overtime." Tatrallyay quickly took control, however, to win, 6-5.

Despite the score, Crimson coach Edo Marion was not pleased with Harvard's performance. "It is not as big a win as the score implies--look at all those 5-4 wins (there were seven for Harvard)," Marion said.