The Harvard women's fencing team lunged, parried and sliced its way through a record five meets in four days last week, but when the dust of battle settled, the results came in mixed.

The swordswomen launched their marathon with a strong showing against Brandeis Wednesday night, dealing the second-ranked team in New England a 10-6 death blow in that team's first defeat of the season.

But Harvard's hope for a winning streak was foiled Friday when it journeyed to Philadelphia for a meet against UPenn, the number one ranked team in the nation. Although team captain Suzie Rivitz and freshman Vivi Fuchs turned in strong individual performances, the swordswomen fell, 12-4, to the stronger team.

Saturday morning the squad entered a quad meet in New York, battling the City College of New York (CCNY), Temple and Barnard. Unable to counter CCNY's "streetfighting tactics," the Crimson lost 14-2. It fell again to Temple's sixth-in-the-nation squad, but rallied for a finale and massacred Barnard's usually strong team, 15-1.

Rivitz credited freshman Fuchs and sophomore Beth Schwinn with particularly strong individual performances. Fuchs went 4-0 in both the Brandeis and Barnard meets and tallied two wins in the tougher UPenn contest.

The men's team also went on the road last weekend, but fared disappointingly in its bid against two of the strongest teams in the country. After being overpowered by UPenn 20-7 Friday afternoon, the swordsmen fenced a frustrating match against Columbia.

Despite extremely strong performances by the foil and sabre squads, the Crimson was overcome by a powerful Columbia epee team that includes two recent Russian imports.

But the weekend did have one bright moment. In the last bout of the meet, fourth-ranked epee Bill Marshall was substituted in against Valdimir Zlovinsky, the top epeeman in the country. In one of the finest bouts the Crimson has seen this year, Marshall took the bout 5-3.