It didn't take long for the Ivy League Round-Robin tournament to produce an upset (based on the national top-10 polls), as the #6 Pennsylvania men doubled up #4 Columbia in an 18-9 win. The Quakers swept all three weapons, winning seven foil bouts, six in sabre and five in epee.
Eight of the nine Columbia fencers posted winning records, led by a 3-0 mark from foilist Zane Grodman. Columbia ace sabreist Jeff Spear (the '08 NCAAA and Ivy League champion) and two-time epee All-American Dwight Smith also went 3-0, but the rest of the Lions fencers combined for only a 3-18 record.
The Penn men – who had the benefit of drawing a bye in Sunday's round-1 – have yet to lose this season (13-0), highlighted by Sunday's victory and an earlier 17-10 win over co-#1 Penn State.
The Columbia men's team results in 2009 have yet to feature a victory over a top-10 opponent, with a combined record of 3-7 in the regular season and Ivy League postseason. The Lions have suffered two losses each to co-#1 Columbia, #3 Ohio State and #9 St. John's, plus the loss to Penn (Columbia's wins have come vs. Wayne State, Stevens Tech and Yale).
Penn sabre All-Americans Jonathan Berkowsky ('08 Ivy league runner-up) and Andrew Bielen lost to Spear, but each posted wins over the other Columbia sabreists (Alex Rudnicki and Trevis Joyner, who both also lost to Anders Eiremo).
Columbia entered the match with a clear foil edge (on paper), led by 2008 NCAA semifinalist Kurt Getz (the '08 Ivy League champion) and 2008 NCAA qualifier Sherif Farrag. But Getz was shut out and Farrag won just once, as Grodman combined with Alex Simmons and Vidur Kapur (both 2-1) for a 7-2 foil team vitory.
The Lions also figured to win more epee bouts, with three veterans who all have fenced at the NCAAs (Smith, fellow All-American Max Czapanskiy and Lorenzo Casertano). Czapanskiy (1-2) and Casertano (0-2) combined for only one win, as Penn won the weapon behind two wins each from Ben Wieder (a two-time NCAA participant) and Samuel Monk.