The first tournament of the decade brought unusual results for the Harvard fencing team, as the No. 7 men far exceeded expectations and the previously-unbeaten No. 3 women dropped every match at the St. John’s Invitational yesterday.

The men (6-5) fell in their opening match to defending national champion and current No. 1 Penn State, 20-7. The foil squad was disappointing in its 9-0 blanking at the paws of the Nittany Lions, but the sabre squad, led by sophomore Valentin Staller, held the upper hand, 5-4.

After falling to No. 2 Notre Dame, 19-8, the Crimson men engineered a pair of surprising upsets with a 15-12 victory over No. 3 Ohio State and a 16-11 win over No. 5 Columbia.

“I thought the men did particularly well,” senior epee Karl Harmenberg said. “These are the best teams in America...basically the top six teams in the country overall. Beating Ohio State was a nice surprise, and I think the win against Columbia gave us confidence and hopefully we can repeat come Ivies.”

The sabre squad was the bright squad for the men, holding the edge in all of its first four matches. But the group was unable to run the table, as a 6-3 deficit made the difference in a 14-13 loss to host St. John’s.

“This was easily the toughest tournament of the year in terms of competition,” Harvard coach Peter Brand said. “The men performed extremely well and I truly thought they were fantastic. They got the job done for us today.”

It was a different story for the women (7-5), who have been the more successful squad of late.

After going undefeated in last year’s St. John’s Invitational, the women posted an 0-5 mark this time around. After defeating No. 1 Penn State 14-13 in November’s Harvard Invitational and riding high after a 24-3 drubbing of Tufts, the Crimson fell to Penn State, 17-10, at St. John’s.

Unfortunately for the Harvard women, this would be their closest match of the tournament.

The Crimson also fell, 17-10, to No. 6 Ohio State and No. 2 Notre Dame. The women rounded out the tournament with an 18-9 loss to No. 4 Columbia and a 19-8 loss to unranked St. John’s.

Harvard was hurt considerably by the absence of co-captain epee Noam Mills, who was competing at the World Cup.

“It certainly would’ve made a difference if Noam had been able to be with us,” Brand said. “She can win her own matches, and she certainly helps the squad as a whole. Missing any one of them would have a huge impact on our performance. They had a great attitude, though, and performed with great spirit. It’s a long season, and I’m pleased with everyone’s performance.”

Brand cited the exceptionally long winter break as a cause of rustiness at the tournament.

“We definitely had a problem coming off such an unusually long break and then going to the toughest tournament in the nation,” Brand said. “We suffered from a conditioning standpoint...you have to be in tip-top shape to perform at these tournaments, and we have to work on taking better care of our bodies.”

Despite the disappointing performance by the women, the men’s breakthrough afternoon bodes well for future competitions.

“There’s definitely room for improvement on the concentration side,” Harmenberg said. “We trained a lot leading up to this, and I think we’ll be able to build on this for future improvement.”

The men’s team, which has lately been just a step behind the women on the national scene, may have gained the confidence to balance the dominance of the women.

“I saw a significant difference in the men, who have been struggling over the past two years,” Brand said. “They are trending up, and it is a very good trend.”

The fencing team will next see action this Saturday when it squares off with Brandeis, Duke, and Yeshiva.

—Staff writer Colin Whelehan can be reached at whelehan@fas.harvard.edu.