State College, Pa. - January 25, 2006 - The Penn State Nittany Lion men's and women's fencing teams will host nine talented squads this Saturday in their final home duals of the 2005-06 season. Action is set to begin at 9 a.m. in the White Building's Fencing Rooms. Admission is free to the public.

Under the guidance of veteran head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov, both Penn State teams will carry lofty national rankings into the action. The women, ranked No. 2, will get the chance to square off against Duke, Drew, Penn, Haverford, Columbia, North Carolina, Temple, St. John's and Hunter. Columbia is ranked No. 3, St. John's is ranked No. 6 and Penn is ranked No. 9.

The women's are off to a 5-0 start this season, with early wins over UNC, Rutgers, Princeton, Harvard and New York University.

The Nittany Lion men's team is ranked No. 3 nationally and will welcome all of the above teams except Temple, which fields only a women's squad. Penn State is 4-1 to date, with wins over UNC, Rutgers, Princeton and NYU.

Penn State, which has won an unprecedented nine national championships since 1990, will visit Brandeis next weekend (Feb. 5) in its next action after this weekend's duals. The Nittany Lions will face Brandeis, MIT, Drew, Boston College, Johns Hopkins and Tufts.