It took a while for the Harvard fencing teams to click last night at MIT. Both the men's and the women's squad held slim early leads, and both faced rival rallies--but both eventually disposed of the host Engineers.

The women's team avenged last season's loss to MIT by slipping past the Engineers, 10-6.

"It was a good meet," sophomore Captain Penelope Papailias said. "We weren't totally together at the beginning, but everything started to fall into place."

Harvard jumped ahead early, 2-0, only to see MIT tie the match. But the Crimson pulled away, taking eight of the final 12 bouts to seal the victory.

Papailias led the Harvard attack by winning all four of her matches. Supporting Papailias were sophomores Kristina Perkin (3-1 at MIT) and Amanda Leness (1-2), and freshman Michelle Kosch (2-2).

Harvard (2-0 on the season) has now outscored its two opponents this season, 26-7, with Papailias (8-0) and Perkin (7-1) leading the way.

Untouched Swordsmen

The Harvard men's fencing team also protected its perfect record, defeating MIT, 19-8.

The crucial point of the meet came in the second round, with Harvard leading, 9-6. MIT rallied to take two consecutive bouts and close the Crimson's lead to 9-8. However, Harvard shut the rally down by snagging the final point of the round.

Harvard ran off nine consecutive points to seal the victory.

"It was crunch time," Captain Kevin McCarthy said, "and we pulled together to put them away."

Sabre fencers McCarthy and Mike Druckman each posted 3-0 performances to lead sabre to a 7-2 victory. Jim O'Neil (3-0) and Adam Weintraub (3-0) led epee to a 5-4 win, while Ray Carthy (2-1) and Jim Rothwell (2-1) led foil to a 5-4 decision.