For the men, it was captain Valentin Staller who led the way.

“Staller really is back on track,” Brand said. “I know he had a tough go of it in our last outing, but he certainly has recovered and fenced extremely well.”

But overall, Brand was not pleased with his team’s performance.

“I think we were off this time,” Brand said. “It might have been the long break or going against some of the toughest in the country. The timing was not great. We could have done better, but we didn’t.”

Harvard had not participated in a meet since it traveled to Penn State on Dec. 3. There, the roles were reversed, with both the Crimson men’s and women’s team bullying their opponents and coasting to easy victories except against the Nittany Lions, which swept Harvard by a scores of 15-12 on the men’s side and 16-11 for the women.

The men’s squad’s only two losses in regular season play last year came at St. John’s Super Cup, which featured the same six teams. Harvard had mixed results at the meet, balancing a pair of 16-11 losses against Penn State and the Fighting Irish with victories over then-ranked St. John’s, the Buckeyes, and the Lions.

The invitational is the men’s and women’s last meet before the Ivy League Championship on the second weekend in February, where the Crimson will come in as one of the favorites. The men might have the tougher task, though, as three other Ancient Eight squads—No. 2 Princeton, No. 7 Penn, and No. 10 Yale—are in the nation’s top 10.

“We anticipate having a good run at the Ivy League Championships, so we have to get back to work,” Brand said.

—Staff writer Daniel A. Grafstein can be reached at dgrafstein@college.harvard.edu.