The Harvard women's fencing team successfully defended its New England Championship title, and sophomore Captain Penelope Papailias captured the New England individual crown yesterday at Malkin Athletic Center.

The N.E. Championship victory qualifies the Crimson (9-4 overall, 2-2 Ivy) for NCAA regionals next weekend at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Harvard took 38 of 40 bouts in the 10-team round-robin tournament, while second-place Wellesley won 30 bouts.

Crown Jewel

Papailias--who last week placed fourth in the Junior Olympics in Orlando, Fla.--captured the individual crown by winning four of her five bouts in the final round. Papailias lost only to teammate Christina Perkin, who placed third in the competition. Linda Ystueta of MIT took second place.

Freshmen Michelle Kosch and Army Neuhardt advanced to the semifinals. "I was particularly pleased that all four Harvard fencers made it to the semi-finals," Papailias said.

In other action, both the men's and women's squads speared Cornell Saturday at Malkin.

The men's 15-12 triumph over the Big Red brought their overall record to 5-5 (1-3 Ivy.) The squad has now won three straight, after dropping four in a row.

Ray Carthy (3-0 on the day) clinched the meet with a 5-0 victory in the 14th bout.

The women completed the sweep, defeating the Big Red, 9-7. Harvard came through with clutch fencing, capturing four 5-4 bouts--including two in the final round--to secure its second Ivy win of the season.