The Harvard fencing team, seeking to rebound from Saturday's embarrassing 20-7 loss to NYU, takes on Trinity this afternoon in what should be an unchallenging tune-up for the tougher part of the schedule to come later this month.

Crimson coach Edo Marion said yesterday that he hopes the match would give the squad a chance to regain a little of the confidence that was so thoroughly shattered by the NYU victory.

"After Saturday's debacle, we will need the Trinity match to restore our psychological confidence," Marion said yesterday.

Jennings Recovering

Despite the need to bounce back into serious competitiveness. Harvard will not go full strength against the Bantams. Freshman Chris Jennings, who has been nursing the flu for over two weeks, will not make the trip, even though he did fence last weekend. Jennings told Marion that he wanted a few more days to recover, and the coach acquiesced to Jennings's request to stay home.

With Jennings gone, Marion will go with Eugene White, Ken Bartels, and John Hirschfeld in epee. But the Harvard coach plans to restrict his "starters" to two rounds of fencing and hopes to substitute freely in the last stanza.

In sabre, the Crimson will be boosted by the return of sophomore Gordon Rutledge, who missed the NYU match because of a tonsillectomy. Rutledge will step back into his number two sabre slot, giving the sabre team the same lineup that dominated the first three matches of the season. Crimson captain Terry Valenzuela and Walt Morris will round out the sabre team.

In foil, Marion will open with the same lineup that he used against NYU. Howie Weiss, Phillipe Bennett and Dave Fichter will fence the first two rounds for the Crimson.

Regardless of who fences for Harvard, Trinity isn't expected to put up much opposition for the Crimson, and Marion hopes to use the match to give some of his less experienced fencers a chance to perform. "We are actually taking two teams with us," Marion said yesterday. "This will give some of our freshmen and sophomores a chance to show what they can do."

The Bantams have never really threatened Harvard, except for their 1965 match in which Marion didn't take along any of his first-liners. In that contest, Trinity managed to press the Crimson squad before bowing 14-13.

With that loss in mind, Marion is not likely to take any chances. "You never know what you'll meet up with against Trinity," he said. "In that respect they scare me a little."