ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell fencing team will bring positive momentum into this weekend's Ivy League Championship beginning on Saturday, Feb. 8 at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa. 

The Big Red will fence in six duals as part of the round-robin event, kicking off with a matchup with top-ranked Harvard on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Following a second round bye, Cornell closes out the day with matches against No. 4 Princeton at 5 p.m. and Brown at 6:15 p.m. On Sunday, head coach Ariana Klinkov's team faces No. 3 Columbia at 12:15 p.m., No. 7 Penn at 1:30 p.m. and No. 12 Yale at 2:45 p.m.

The Big Red will serve as the fifth seed in the seven-team round robin, as six conference schools are ranked among the national top 12. Cornell is ranked No. 8 nationally after a 32-11 regular season campaign, its third 30-win season in the past four years. Included are wins over eight nationally ranked opponents, including No. 2 Notre Dame and Ivy foes Yale and Penn.

All three weapons have shown consistent success in dual meet competition, winning at a 62 percent clip or better. Seven different fencers across all three weapons have won at least 40 bouts and three more than more than 30 victories. 

Leading the way into the Ivy Championships is returning All-American Ketki Ketkar in epee. The junior is 24-6 while competing on a limited schedule in between national and international competitions. Returning epeeists Emma Ni and Nora Weber competed at NCAA Regionals a season ago.

Joining Ketkar as a returning NCAA qualifier is Isabella Carvalho in sabre. The sophomore went 42-21, with just sophomore Samantha Marsee (50-19) ahead of her in wins among the sabre squad. 

Seniors Rei Weintraub (68-31) and Renata Chusid (58-20) ranked 1-2 on the team in wins in topping the foil squad. Both competed at NCAA Regionals a year ago.