Columbus, Ohio -- The Penn State men's and women's fencing team is tied for first in the overall team standings after the first day of the 2012 NCAA Championships. The Nittany Lions accumulated 51 team points through the first four rounds of the women's events. Notre Dame and Ohio State are also tied for first with 51 points. Princeton and St. John's round out the top five with 50 and 48 points, respectively.
Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.) holds first place in the Women's Saber after winning 12 of her 13 bouts on day one. Aksamit's only loss came in a 5-4 decision against Duke's Rebecca Ward. Sophomore Nicole Glon (State College, Pa.) stands in sixth place after defeating nine of her 13 opponents. Penn State is the only team with two fencers in the top 10 in the Saber.
2010 National Champion Margherita Guzzi Vincenti (Milan, Italy) sits atop the Women's Epee standings after winning 13 of her 14 bouts. Guzzi Vincenti dropped a 5-2 bout against Princeton's Hannah Safford. Margherita will look to capture her third All-America status and win her second National Championship. In 11th place is Oksana Samorodov (San Antonio, TX) who won seven of her bouts.
Freshman Alina Antokhina (Moscow, Russia) defeated ten of 14 opponents in the Women's Foil to hold 6th place. She will look to claim All-American status during Friday's competitions.
Women's rounds five through seven will be completed Friday morning. The top four in each event will move on to the medal rounds, which will be held at 2 p.m. Friday.